Brotherly Bonding
by Kitty Jinxter
Summary: I really don't believe people when they tell me that Axel likes me. He's my stepbrother- and frankly, he's kind of a dick. And nothing will ever change that- or at least, that's what I thought before I started actually liking him back. M/M, side lesbians, Roxas POV, will eventually get a rewrite. Enjoy!
1. Stuck

_Summary: She wanted her step sons to get closer. But she had no idea how close they would get. Yaoi, M/M, side Incest, side Yuri, AU, first person. Enjoy! _

**~o~ I thought of this when I was watching Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Roderick Rules, and I thought of this. It's a Yaoi, and I tried to get their characters right, so, here you guys go! Enjoy! :)**

**Edit: To any new readers, I want to take a moment to say that while this story starts out rocky and a little badly written, it does get better. And thanks for deciding to read this! Welcome! ~o~**

Hey. I'm Roxas Richards. Age fifteen. And I'm stuck in a minivan with my family.

My younger brother Joshua, age three, was in the way back strapped into his car seat, the iPod touch I had saved up for years for in his hands as he played that new SpongeBob pinball game. My mom had made me let him play with it, to my dismay.

Next to me in the front back was my older stepbrother Axel, age seventeen. He was writing on the window with an Expo marker: Axel iz pimp. Sometimes I wonder if he does things like the 'Z' in his 'is' on purpose.

Up front, mom didn't notice because she was busy 'jamming out' to some old person's song. She's forty something. Dad, well, my stepdad, also old, was busy driving and trying to not get us killed, so he didn't notice either.

Axel turned and sneered at me as he wrote 'Roxas iz laem' on the window. I swear, he isn't misspelling on purpose. Mom says that he does it joking, but I know that she doesn't really believe that. He has, after all, failed all the English classes he has ever taken.

"Are we there yet?" Axel groaned and spit on the window to wipe off the marker. With my jacket.

Mom didn't look back, but she turned down the music. "Almost, sweetie. Roxas, can you make sure that Joshy's strap is secure?"

I sighed and did as she said, reaching back and tugging on the straps that went across his chest. She always had me doing this. Joshua bit me and I retracted my hand with a hiss, holding it to my chest. "Hey, jerk!"

He started crying as if _I _was the one who bit _him_. I looked down at my hand. He had bit me so hard that blood was pooling in the marks his teeth had made and a large area around it was red.

"Roxas!" My mom snapped at me and turned around. "We do not tolerate name calling!"

"But, he bit me!" I defended and showed her my bite ravaged hand.

She crinkled her nose at me, drawing her perfect black eyebrows together and said, "You probably hurt him! Look at him back there; he's turning red from all that crying! I'm sure he isn't crying for no reason, Roxas."

"Oh my god, he is!"

I looked over at Axel who was smirking at me. Then he looked to mom and said, "He pulled the strap to tight, Tifa. I saw it."

Mom glared at me then. "Apologize."

I groaned and turned back to Joshua who was watching me, sniffling. Faker. "I'm sorry."

Mom smiled, satisfied. "Now, was that so hard?"

_Yes_, I thought, but outwardly, I settled for just a shrug. I didn't need mom on my case when we were finally going home after spending a week at dad's parents' house. I didn't want to be in trouble when I finally got out of that nightmare.

I had spent the whole week getting my cheeks pinched by my grandma's old girl friends and listening to her and my grandpa's extremely boring stories about 'the old days.'

I could still see grandpa's scrunched up face and beady little eyes as he shook his finger at Axel and I every time one of us took out our cell phone. '_Back in my day, we had to walk to our friends' houses if we wanted to talk to them! And send letters! Do young people send letters? They should!_'

Or grandma's flat face, sagging from the absurd amount of makeup she wears when she told us about how women should stay home and do the housework and let the men go out and do the real work. '_Back in my day, women didn't have working jobs! The only job we had was to take care of them kids and keep the house clean and cook them dinners!_' Way to set Woman's rights back, grandma.

We finally pulled up to our house and I practically ran to the door, all my bags in my arms.

I had been away from my room for so long I forgot what to do in it. I had to sit there at my desk for a few moments, the computer mouse underneath my hand but not moving, before I remembered what sites to go to and what to click.

A Red Vine was hanging from his mouth as he motioned for me to stand up. "Hey, shit face, I need to use your computer. I broke mine."

I stared at him. "How?"

I didn't know then, but Axel had spilled a bottle of vodka mixed with Sprite on the keyboard. "My keyboard broke."

I sighed and stood up, letting him sit down.

I thought I had a lot of FB hits; when Axel logged on, he had three hundred and ten notifications, eight private messages and eleven friend requests. Neither of us had been able to get on since going to our grandparent's house.

I sighed and sat on my bed, opening a book to the series I had started reading. Axel was on there for at least an hour. I didn't mind. I didn't really notice, I was so into my book. When he got up to leave, he hit my shoe clad foot and said, "Fagot," which I guess could be translated into 'Thank you' in normal human speech. I just hummed and nodded, looking up to watch him leave. Those pants made his butt look nice…

I shrugged off that thought, deciding that I should get a pair like that.

**~o~**

Dinner sucked. Axel had skipped and headed down to the basement, to our parent's dismay, with his band to practice. Something about a battle of the bands competition. Halfway through the meatloaf, from his highchair Joshua picked up a spoonful of mashed potatoes and flung it at me. He missed and it hit the window behind me.

Mom looked up and said, "Roxas, could you clean that up, please?"

I pursed my lips and grabbed the paper towels from the kitchen, wetting one, before returning to the dining room. While I was cleaning it, they continued eating. Suddenly, bullet past, three globs of mash potatoes came flying at me, two hitting the window, one hitting me in the pack of the head.

I pressed my lips together and slowly looked over my shoulder to glare at Joshua. He was smiling. Jerk.

"Clean those up, too," mom said, indicating with her fork at the two new globs on the window as she chewed.

_Yeah, I know. _Despite my thoughts, I keep to myself and cut the sarcasm, cleaning off the mashed potatoes and throwing the ones in my hair into the trash.

Axel's friends came up around the end, Axel coming up behind them. They were laughing loudly and Axel was trying to get them to calm down, looking nervously at my mom.

"Mom," Axel smiled. He only said 'mom' when he was sucking up or wanted something. "Jaime Garcia is having a party right now… for his birthday. And he wanted me to come. Could I…?"

"No," Mom said firmly. Axel's friends fell silent. "Absolutely not."

"Please?" Axel pleaded. "Pretty, pretty please? I'll be home by twelve, and I'll do the dishes for a month!"

Mom thought about her, her lips pursed from her concentration. She tapped her French tipped acrylics on the table and looked to dad. He just shrugged and looked at Axel again. After what felt like a century, she said, "Fine."

Axel's friends whooped and he looked happily shocked. Before he could celebrate, though, she ruined it by saying, "But you have to bring your brother."

Axel furrowed his brow at her. "Josh?"

"No!" she gaped. "Heavens no! Roxas. You two need to spend more time together."

_More time together? _Is she _insane?_ We have enough time together! I can barely stand the time we have! "No, I'm okay-."

"No," Mom says, her eyes never leaving Axel's. "You're going, or he doesn't go."

Axel glared at me and mouthed, 'You better do it.' With a sigh then a groan, I pushed away from the table.

"Fine," I say. "But I have to get these potatoes out of my hair." With a final glare at Joshua, I walk down the hall and sink wash my hair.

**~o~**

Axel won a big white van off of his stupid drunk friend a year ago when they were playing beer pong in some football player's garage. It was big and white and took up more gas and room than both our minivan and my mom's work car.

He had painted on the side in dripping black paint 'Elektrik Pork Vomit.' Their stupid band's stupid name. It even had a yellow fire bolt that seemed to go behind the letters. That had dripped, too.

I can't count how many times people asked me, "Oh mah gawd, Axel's your brother?" after he drove both me and him to school. Normally, he didn't drive me all the way, though. He would drop me off in a convenient store parking lot down the street from the high school. Said I ruined his image. The only times he takes me all the way are when we're in bad weather or we're running late.

The party Axel was talking about wasn't just some birthday party. It was Jessica the Hippo huge. Eminem huge. Empire state building huge.

It was big, okay?

At least a hundred kids were hovering out on the lawn- the lawn! I couldn't even imagine how many people were inside!

The street was full of cars, and teens were walking down the sidewalk to get to this party. The house was huge, too. One of those up-town homes.

Alas, I'll never see the inside, because Axel and his friends jumped out of the van quickly and locked the doors. From the outside.

I remember this- a year ago, right after Axel had won the van, he broke the locks. So now, the only way it could be unlocked was by the alarm button attached to the keys.

Axel smiled at me through the window, dangling the keys and the alarm button in the air. I glared at him and sat with my arms crossed. I should have brought a book. But it was pitch dark, anyway, and he had no car lights.

I was sitting there for half an hour, watching all the teens outside swaying around with red plastic cups. At one point, a bunch of nice leather couches were carried out to the front lawn and a bunch of guys took turns throwing each other on them.

An hour into it, I was bored out of my mind, and the reality of how mean Axel locking me in had brought me into tears.

I didn't know until now how much he hated me.

Then I remembered something- Sora lived in this neighborhood. When I looked at the time on my phone, I figured that he was still awake (It was only nine thirty) so I called him.

He answered on the last ring. The background was really loud- a mix of loud talking and loud music. I realized that he was at the party, too.

-Locked in a van?- Sora said in disbelief.

"Yeah. Can you help me out?"

-Wouldn't I need Axel's keys for that?-

"Yeah…"

-Oh. Okay. I'll be there in a few.-

True to his word, Sora, accompanied by Kairi, were there in three minutes. He had Axel's keys in his hand and was smiling at me as he let me out.

He and Kairi both took my hands and started dragging me towards the party. "Wait-!" I dug the heels of my Converse into the dirt.

"What?" Sora asked, his eyebrows pushed together.

"Axels gonna get mad," I said, unsure.

"So?" Kairi said. "_We're _taking you to the party. He can't say shit."

With a lot of reluctance, I let them escort me into the house.

The music was loud. It was some kind of techno. I never really liked techno. People watched as we walked in, many of them nodding at Sora and Kairi or waving or simply saying 'hi.' I zoomed in on Axel automatically.

He was sitting on one of the remaining sofas next to a really pretty girl with blonde hair. She had big blue eyes and was wearing a pretty, white dress. Axel had his arm around her and was smiling as he whispered something in her ear, his hand holding a cup of unknown liquid. She was giggling, her fingers self-consciously touching her lips.

"Oh my _god_," Kairi groaned. "He's hitting on my sister!"

When Axel saw me, his eyes widened. He loosened his grip on the cup a little and it tipped, spilling the brown liquid all over the girl and her chest.

She shrieked and jumped up. Axel jumped up, too, and tried to wipe her off with some napkins off the nearby snack table. The girl just pushed him off and ran to Kairi.

No one around noticed. They all just kept dancing and talking and drinking.

"Oh my god, Namine, are you okay?" Kairi asked, taking her own napkins from the other snack table and wiping her sister off.

"Yeah," Namine sniffled. She wasn't crying, but she looked like she was about to. Then she looked up at me and she blushed, wiping her eyes quickly and looking down.

Sora smirked and leaned in to whisper in my ear, "She's liked you for like, forever."

I raised an eyebrow but shrugged it off. Namine was cute, but she wasn't my type. I'm into redheads.

"We'll be right back," Kairi told us and she escorted Namine away to what I assumed was the bathroom.

When they were gone, Axel stomped over to us, his eyes glowing furiously. "How'd you get out, fagot?"

Sora took the keys out of his pants pocket and dangled then in front of Axel's face. Axel reached his hand into his coat pocket and his lip twitched. "How did you-?"

"Namine," Sora sang happily. "Now, if you don't mind, Roxas and I are trying to _enjoy _ourselves."

With that, Sora dragged me off deeper into the party, and I nervously watched as Axel glared after us until he was completely hidden by the crowd.

**~o~**

**A/N**

**Here's the first chapter! Hope you guys liked. :) I'll update soon!**

**Review! ^^**


	2. Fear

**~o~ Hey, guys, here's the second chapter. :) Enjoy! Oh, and by the way, I decided there is going to be incest in this story between a side couple. ;) Incest is my guilty pleasure. ~o~**

Hi, I'm Roxas Richards and I am in fear for my life.

I felt nervous after an hour had passed and I still hadn't been mauled by Axel. With each shot that Sora and Kairi took, I kept looking over my shoulder, knowing that the more they drank, the more their guard was down, and the more chance that Axel would come up behind me with a chloroform soaked rag and drag me off somewhere where I'd never be found.

I could see his innocent face as he told our crying parents, 'He was drinking- I told him not to! He must have taken the keys of the van from me and drove into the lake…'

My mom would instantly stop crying and dad's tears would slow and his face would get firmer. They would believe them, because, if it's against me, they always do.

Kairi passed out in her stupid boyfriends lap awhile later. I never liked her boyfriend. He always looked at Sora's butt when Kairi wasn't looking, and frankly, Sora lets him. Something about Riku being hot.

Sora had to go to the bathroom, so he left me in the kitchen. Alone. Vulnerable.

I looked around me and backed into a corner. I could die at any moment. I could be jumped by Axel and his friends at any time. But the time never came. Instead, Namine did.

She had gotten a black Raider's sweatshirt to pull over the stain. "Hi," she smiled.

I relaxed a little, but didn't let my guard down. "Hey."

Now that I looked at her, Namine was really, _really _cute. I could probably get passed the fact that she wasn't my type. And as we went into hesitant conversation, I found that she was really smart, too. Unlike Axel, who could barley spell his own name.

At the thought of Axel, I looked around again. Namine must have realized what the look on my face meant because she touched my arm and smiled. "Relax. Sora could ruin him socially. He knows that."

I bite my lip and meet her eyes. She has the prettiest eyes. They're big and blue with long mascara coated eyelashes and teal eyeliner outlining them. Her lips are a light pink and stretch temptingly as she smiles. "I know."

Her hand didn't leave my arm. The close proximity is making my heart beat fast. We both self consciously lean in, and as we get closer, her eyes slowly start to close. Right as our lips are about to meet-

A sudden rush of cold shocked us away from it and Namine gasps. I automatically push her away and cringe at the loud laughing around us.

Axel and his group of friends were looking at us, smirking. A large bucket- one that had been used to hold the beer- was in Axel's hand, resting at his side. The ice had almost melted completely and he used that water to throw on us.

Namine burst into tears and pushed through the crowd at a run. I stared after her and then up at Axel. Axel just smirked back. "We're leaving, fagot."

The people who had been watching and laughing, excluding Axel's friends, when back to what they had been doing before. Axel's grin faltered when he saw Sora walk into the kitchen.

Sora was rubbing his eyes and stumbling slightly, which Axel noted, and his grin went back to how it was before. Cocky and seductive and twisted all at the same time.

"We're leaving," he repeated. When I didn't move, he reached forward and grabbed onto my arm, pulling me towards him. He threw his arm around my shoulders and held me painfully close to his person as we pushed out of the kitchen, his friend following behind.

Axel nodded to Riku who nodded back, Kairi still asleep in his arms. Namine was sitting next to them, watching us nervously as I was guided out. She waved a little, but I was unable to wave back.

Axel let me go when we got to the van and walked around to get in himself. When he did, his friends grabbed me and one of them threw the van door open. I was harshly thrown in the part of the back with no seat and they got into the other part, slamming the doors shut.

**~o~**

When I laid in bed that night, staring up at the ceiling, chewing on my bottom lip, my mind kept wandering to the words Axel had said to me.

"If you tell your mom _anything _about what happened tonight, I'll fucking kill you!"

That included the drinking, the close dancing, all the people (Especially the girls) and the stupid joke he had pulled. But my mind also kept coming back to this: How can he kill me if he's locked in the basement?

I'm sure that if mom found out, she would take everything from him, and dad would let her. She'd probably throw him down the basement stairs and lock him in there until he's forty. I know that the only reason she wanted me to go was because she figured that I would spill the dirt on him and whatever it was he did at the party. But I was going to be the bigger person and do the only thing the bigger person would do.

Let it go.

**~o~**

I don't know how I didn't notice Namine before last night. I see her all the time at school. She even hangs out with Kairi every once in awhile.

In fourth period, Sora was still suffering from a hangover. Someone had asked him for a pencil and he slammed his hand down onto his desk, shouting, "Do I _look _like I have a fucking pencil?!"

The class fell silent. Riku, who was sitting in the back, was smirking. Mr. Jones looked up from his teacher's text book in surprise.

"Mr. Leonhart," he said, unsure. "Was that you?"

Everyone was staring at Sora, and his sunglasses and hood couldn't hide him from their prying gaze. He rubbed his temple and said, "Sorry, sir… I just don't feel good."

Riku snorted and I bit the side of my cheek. Jerk.

"Um… Would you like to go to the nurse?" Mr. Jones asked. He looked as if he already knew the answer and went to his desk to get the note's pad out of one of the drawers.

Sora took the note from Mr. Jones on his way out.

At lunch, I caught glimpse of Axel and his friends. Some girl was hanging onto his side, laughing at everything he said. I didn't realize I was staring until I tripped over someone's foot (Which wasn't stuck out on purpose, I'm just REALLY unlucky) an all my food spilled over Namine.

"Oh my god!" I say and rush around the people to get to her. She wipes the parfait from her eyes and heaves a heavy sigh.

"Y'know, I'm starting to think you two have it out for me."

I smile sheepishly and take the napkin's off of some guy's tray as he passed by and help her wipe herself off. She still had it in her hair and on her clothes, though.

Kairi, who was sitting next to Namine snuggling with Riku, was trying to hold in her laughs. "Just get married already. You're already messing with her boobs."

I blushed and dropped the napkins into the trash. Namine blushed, too, standing up and grabbing her satchel and what seemed like a sketch pad. She scurried off and Kairi sighed, shaking her head.

"That girl…" She ran a hand through her hair and looked around. "Hey, where's Sora?"

"Sleeping in the nurse's office, Riku smiled. Freaking jerk. I hate his stupid smile. "He cussed in Mr. Jones. Surprised him so much that Sora didn't even get in trouble. Got sent to the _nurse's _office."

Kairi sighed and leaned her head on his chest. "He's so cute."

Riku pursed his lips and nodded. "I know."

Um, hello? Red flag? Kairi, your boyfriends _gay_! He _wants Sora_! It'd be fine if he wasn't so obvious. How can Kairi be so oblivious? Geezus!

I get torn away from my inner ranting when I overhear someone outside our group say Leon, Sora's older brother's, name. Some girl who I recognized as Ally, who had gone to the party the night before, was talking to this other girl Jennifer, who I don't remember seeing.

"Yeah, I heard he was taken away in a cop car!" Jennifer said. They were trying to whisper, but they were failing.

"What?" I furrowed my brow and turned to Kairi. He made a sharp intake of breath and her eyes looked to the side. "What happened?"

"Well," Kairi pursed her lips as if trying to find the right words. "Some… _Stuff _went down last night after you left."

Now, completely interested, I scooted closer. "What happened?"

Leon is eighteen and a junior; he's also the social society head. That's why Sora is so popular and why he has a firm grip over Axel's social standing, which Axel knows too well. So I don't understand why he would have done that last night, knowing that Sora was going to find out.

"Well, this guy was trying to hit on Sora," Kairi said. "And Sora was obviously drunk, and he's a whore when he's drunk, and Leon didn't like it, so he punched the guy in the face. Then the guy's friends came and they all ganged up on Leon, and Leon kicked all their asses because he's so awesome, and the cops were called and he was arrested, and when they were patting him down they found weed, and yeah. I don't know what happened after the cops took him because Sora won't tell me."

"Oh," I nod.

"Yeah, and Sora's been snapping at everyone all day," Riku said. "He was so much worse in first than in fourth. He threw a text book at some guy who was talking about Leon. It was awesome."

When Kairi and Riku went into a conversation about how Sora never gets in trouble, a flash of red catches my eye.

Axel is walking with some guy. He has spiky blonde hair and big blue eyes. Axel made it too obvious that he was flirting with him. Axel's gay? He's not gay. There must be a catch. He must just be being a dick. He must want to know something because I remember the guy as someone in Leon's inner circle. But what would he want from him? He's probably a whore. How crude. I hate whores, and I don't really like Axel talking to him and…

I shrug off my inner ramble and stand up. I don't know what I'm going to say to him, and as I start to get closer to the two, I start to panic. Then, someone jumped into my line of vision, startling me.

"Hi!" Demyx said happily, just inches from my face.

I put my hand over my heart and say, "Oh, Jesus, Demyx, you scared the spit out of me!"

He put out his bottom lip. "Sorry! Hey, Roxas, guess what?"

I sigh and look past hi as Axel' disappears with his stupid blonde whore. I guess I should be glad Demyx stopped me- I have no idea what I'd say! I barley talk to Axel at home. Why did I even want to talk to him now? Was I _possessed_?

"What?" I ask Demyx.

He squealed his adorable little squeal and jumped a little. "Saix finally asked me out!"

"It's about time," I sigh. "What's it been, a year since you two started flirting?"

Demyx grinned and kicked at a rock, nodding. "He didn't do it in a romantic way, though. You know Saix… We were sitting in my room, making out like we always do when he just said, 'Hey, you wanna go out?' and I was all 'Hecks yeah!' and now we're going out."

I don't know if I should be happy that he finally got with that jerk or mad that it took so long for that jerk to ask him out. "Where is he?"

Demyx shrugged and looked around. "I think he's with Cloud?"

That was that guy's name… "No, I just saw Cloud with Axel. I mean, they could have just left him or are meeting him now, but I don't know."

Demyx nodded and looked around again. "Oh, well. I'm just gonna go hang out with Zexion. Want to come?"

I shrugged and followed him.

**~o~**

Sora and I have sixth period together. French. He was back from the nurse's office then and we both sat in the back.

He was still in a bad mood and was wearing his big sunglasses, but the hood wasn't over his head. We weren't paying attention because Mrs. Harrison was showing a movie called 'Les Miserables' or something. So we were free to talk.

"So, what happened last night?" I asked cautiously.

Sora heaved a heavy sigh and rubbed his eyes under his sunglasses. "Honestly, I don't even know. I was flirting with some guy one moment, Leon knocked him out the next."

"He got arrested?" I ask and Sora nods, sighing again.

"I got like, no sleep last night. Between the police's questioning and my mom's yelling. They just let Leon go with a fine for the weed. They put the fight down as self defense 'cause I convinced them that the guy was literally 'hitting' on me."

"Oh," I nod. "You're pretty lucky to have a brother who cares like that."

Sora snorted. "He was just jealous…"

"What?" I furrowed my brow. Jealous of what? Is Leon gay? Did he like that guy?

Sora just waved it off with his hand and set his chin in his palm, using his arm for support. "My mom was so mad. We weren't supposed to go out 'cause we're in trouble. You wanna come over after school?"

"I'll ask my mom," I said.

**~o~**

I called my mom after school and she said that I could go. So Sora and I caught a ride with one of Sora's friends and in around twenty minutes were at his house.

I always hated being in his neighborhood. All the houses were big and nice and it pisses me off whenever I pass the Porches and Hummers. Everyone seems to have a big dog, too, and lots of grass. This is one of the few places in this part of California that grows grass.

Sora's house is a big white two story with six bedrooms, four bathrooms and a giant glass door. There's a giant grand piano in the large living room and a fifty inch flat screen with expensive furniture and glass art and paintings.

Sora's kind of rich. His mom won a lawsuit with some big medicine company for giving her husband a brain tumor by using his and killing him. So they got a crap load of money. The fact that she has a nice job helps, too. So, Sora, Leon and their two younger brothers are spoiled rotten.

Sora led me to his upstairs room where he jumped onto his king sized Tempur Pedic and let out a groan. "My head is killing me!"

I grunt and sit next to him, playing with his hair. "Where's Leon?"

"I don't know." Sora took off his sunglasses and threw them onto the sofa in the corner. "Probably in his room. He's still pissed off at me."

"Why would he be pissed off at _you_?" I ask. Sora just shrugs and waves it away again.

We talked for awhile before there was a knock on his door. Sora called them in with one of his obnoxious 'Mah' noises Leon stepped in.

Leon's face looked kind of sad when he walked in, but when he saw me, it turned angry and into a fierce glare. Oh, crap.

**~o~**

**A/N**

**I just didn't know where to end this chapter!**

**Sorry, guys, I had some parts in the other chapter separated, but for some reason it didn't come out that way. :/ Oh, well. **

**This was a boring one- sorry, guys- but keep on reading and I'll always be in your dept. :) Sorry, I just can't **_**not **_**have incest in my stories! I didn't know that I was going to have it until I sat down to write this chapter, so I'm going to change the Summary warnings when I get the chance.**

**Thanks for reading! Review, please! :)**

**See you soon.**


	3. Pissed Off

**~o~ Here I am again with the third chapter of this epic tale. I know what you're thinking, "Cain, you have too many uncompleted fan fiction up! Finish something before you make another one!" Hey, I think I'm doing pretty good with updating! Dx So stop talking your chizz, imaginary people! So, yeah, I'm thinking about making yet another fan fiction. :)**

**Anyslut, here's chapter three. Enjoy! ~o~**

Hi, I'm Roxas Richards and I'm being stared down by a big, scary criminal.

Leon was pissed off. I have no idea why, but he is a scary, scary man. So when his glare was fixed on me, then on Sora whose head was still in my lap, then back at me, I wanted to cry.

"What the fuck are you doing here, Richards?"

It took me a moment to realize that he was talking to me. So thankfully, Sora spoke for me. "He's hanging out with me, Leon."

Leon's glare went back onto him. "Mom doesn't want anyone over."

"Mom isn't here," Sora said nonchalantly, sitting up and leaning lightly on me. "So, fuck off."

"You're such a whore!" Leon hissed and Sora laughs.

"Like your any better! You're always flirting with people, Leon! You're such a hypocrite. God. Why are you even in here? We're fighting."

"I came in here to apologize for calling you a whore last night," Leon said. "But now I see it's true. So, never mind."

Sora waved when Leon left and sighed when the door slammed shut, making a picture fall off the wall. "He is such a dick." He put his head back into my lap.

I went back to playing with Sora's hair- It's just so much fun!- and asked, "Why does he care so much if you flirt with guys?"

Sora closed his eyes. "Roxas, you're my best friend. Can you keep a secret?"

I shrug. "Who am I gonna tell?"

So he told me the most shocking thing I have ever heard in my life. Sora- angel Sora who never gets in trouble and is just so adorable- and Leon- big, butch Leon who punches people for looking at him weird and smokes weed and drinks and does all this crap- are sleeping together. The half brothers are sleeping together, and Leon is, apparently, a jealous boyfriend.

"Oh my god," I said. "Oh my god!"

Sora looked up at me nervously. His eyes were big and he looked a little pale, making my stomach churn. "You think I'm weird, don't you? I can't tell Kairi. She'd probably understand, she'd probably think it's cute, but she'd definitely tell Riku and Riku would tell everybody." Sora sighed. "Leon would kill me if he knew that I told you."

I shook my head. "I don't think your weird, Sora." Which wasn't a lie. If I was gay and wasn't afraid spit less by Leon, I'd probably like him. Maybe. I mean, even I can see he's pretty hot. But the fact that they were sleeping together was weird. "It's not that bad."

"Mom would kill us," Sora sighed. "We can't be open about it at all. I think that's what's messing us up and why he gets so jealous whenever I even look at another guy." He rolled over and off my lap, leaning his head onto his hand so he could look at me. "I was trying to make him jealous at the party last night. He was flirting with Cloud, and it pissed me off, so I flirted with Peirce, and Leon freaked out. Not that I can blame him. I mean, I was practically sucking Peirce's dick."

"Okay, ew," I smile and Sora laughs.

"It's true!" He picks up his phone and checks the time. "My mom's gonna be home soon, so call your mom and have her pick you up."

So I did and mom was there in a half hour, ten minutes before Sora's mom usually gets home.

"Did you have fun?" Mom asks, looking at me from the driver's seat. Joshua is in the front seat strapped into his car seat.

"Yeah," I nod.

"Well, I'm picking up Axel, too," Mom said. "He's at the mall with his friends. Handing out demo CD's." I roll my eyes. "His friends are coming home with us, too."

That made my stomach hurt. I don't want his friends coming home with us.

Flashes of them man handling me last night flash through my head. All their laughs, their stupid hands… Their faces make me want to punch puppies. I don't want to be stuck in here with them, let alone have them at my house.

They were waiting outside the mall, Axel having a cigarette hanging from his mouth as he sat on one of the higher walls. He quickly threw it to the ground, lucky that I saw him and not my mother.

His friends didn't put theirs out in time, and he kicked them and gave them his look. They quickly threw theirs down, too. But it was too late. Mom saw them, and when she stopped and they sheepishly climbed in, she was sending them a sharp look in the rearview mirror.

Axel sat next to me, and because his other friend Freddy was pretty big (And by big I mean his breasts are bigger than my mother's) so Axel is pressed up against me.

I'm able to smell the Axe he wears, which is mixed with the smell of cigarette smoke and perfume as if a girl had been pressed up against him or a long time while he was at the mall. That pisses me off, even though I don't know why, but I let it rest in the pits of my stomach as I cross my arms and sink into the seat.

Then Axel surprises me and elbows me gently to get my attention. When I look up at him (And I have to look _way _up 'cause he is freaking tall!) he's staring down at me. "You okay?"

His voice was low as if he didn't want anyone to hear him actually being nice to me. I don't say anything- I just nod and look forward again.

He leans down so that I can hear him but everyone else can't. "Are you still mad about what I did last night?"

No, it isn't what he did last night, but yeah, I'm still really mad about it. I just shrug and sink deeper into the seat. Axel heaves a sigh and says, "I'm…" He sighed again and rolled his eyes. "Sorry. Or something. I guess. I was drinking, and… Seeing you with Namine pissed me off, and I didn't want you two to be all close like that."

I looked up at him again and chewed my cheek. Then I said, keeping my voice just as low, "Why would me being with Namine make you mad?" That pissed me off more. I just glared up at him and he just stared back with that look. That same dang look he always had, and it makes me so darn mad!

"Because Namine denied me," he said and I snarled.

"Because she denied you, you're not going to let her be with _me_? She likes me. And I might kinda like her. And if I wanted to kiss her, who are you to stop me?" I said. My voice was a little louder, making the other people aware that we were talking, but low enough so they can't understand what I'm saying.

Axel pressed his lips to a thin line, and started to say something, but he was cut off by his fat friend elbowing him in the gut and pointing out the window. "Dude, that's Kenyan's girl!"

Axel pressed his lips in a thin line and looked out the window and acted like he cared. "Yeah, she is."

We were at home a moment later and Axel's friends go out first but Axel lingered, keeping me from getting out, staring at me. I realized that he wasn't going to move because he was being a jerk, so I climbed over him but he wouldn't let me and threw his arm over my waist.

"You should really stop talking to Namine."

I groan and hang my head. "It's _none of your business,_ Axel."

With that, he let go and I climbed out.

**~o~ **

"And he like, grabbed me when I tried to get out," I seethed into the phone. I'm laying on my bed on my stomach, talking to Sora as I ate a Snicker's bar. "I mean, who does he think he is?"

-I don't know,- Sora said nonchalantly. –Maybe he's jealous?-

"He did say that he was pissed off because Namine denied him or something."

-That's not what I meant,- Sora sighed. –Maybe he's jealous that you might actually like her. You know, he could, and hear me out here, like you.-

I snort and take a bit of my candy bar, kicking my feet lightly. "I doubt it. He hates me." I rolled onto my back and stare up at my ceiling. "Maybe he really liked Namine?"

-Yeah, right. It's more likely that he likes you. Know what I heard from Leon? Sora asked me.

"What?"

-That Cloud, that's Leon's best friend by the way, has been secretly sucking Axel's woo-hoo and that Axel told him the most _interesting thing_.-

I sigh at Sora's baiting and say, "_What is it_?"

Sora giggled before saying, -Axel likes a certain blonde kid he's particularly close to. See, I don't just pull my guesses out of thin air. Axel _likes _you. _Like _likes you.-

My heart dropped into my stomach. "Your such a liar."

-No lie!- Sora defended. –But it's just somethin' that I heard. I could be wrong.-

"You could be very wrong!" It was bullpoop. There is no way in hell that Axel likes me- Me! And much less of a chance that he'd tell somebody!

But, now that I think about it, I don't know anything about Axel. He could be a prostitute for all I know. A druggy! I don't know him at all. Which is why it makes sense that Mom is always trying to make us hang out.

-You don't know that,- Sora said as if he could read my mind. –My sources are reliable! And you don't know him. I mean, what if the reason he's such a dick to you _isn't _because he's a dick? What if it's because he really, really likes you and that's how he shows affection? You have to think about these things, Roxas.-

"I don't _want _to think about these things, Sora!" I groan. "It's weird."

-Not really.- There was a loud banging in the background and a muffled voice. Sora sighed. –I gotta go, Roxy. Leon's throwing a fit 'cause he thinks I'm talkin' to Seifer.-

"Okay. Bye."

-See yah!-

And he was gone, leaving me to my thoughts.

There's no way Axel would like me. Whoever told Sora that was either delusional or lying. But why someone would lie about that, I don't know.

I mean, yeah, Axel's attractive and all, but he's a dick. And I'm not gay. And I'm pretty sure he isn't gay. He could be bisexual, but I doubt that, too. He's just such a womanizer. Every time I see him he has some girl hanging on him and whenever I'm close enough to smell him, he smells like a girl had rubbed herself all over him and her perfume had rubbed off. And I sure as hell know he doesn't wear perfume himself.

As if he knew that I was thinking about him, Axel walked into my room. Again, he didn't knock. Whatever. I'm too busy thinking about him to think about how rude he is.

He doesn't tell me he has to use my computer this time. He just gets on. Again, whatever.

I watched him. Which he noticed. He gave me an odd look and turned in my computer chair. "What are you looking at?"

"Someone told me that you liked me."

He sneered. "That's retarded."

"That's what I thought," I said.

He turned back to my computer and we went back into silence.

**~o~**

Mom made her 'Ultra special lemon spinach quiche!' for dinner and we were all sitting down at the table, for once, when mom asked the dreaded question.

"So, how was the party last night, Roxas?"

I almost choked on my bite of quiche and quickly took a drink of my water to wash it down before she noticed.

All eyes were on me. Mom had her piercing look on, her mouth pressed in a thin line. Dad was watching me while stuffing his face. Joshua was watching in hope that I would get yelled at. It was Axel's glare that made me feel really uneasy. He was glaring fiercely at me, shaking his head in warning.

"It was fun."

Mom's eyes narrowed. "What did you guys do?"

My mind went into panic mode. It was a birthday party, right? What did mom think happened at birthday parties? Then I said: "Oh, we played pin the tail on the donkey, bobbed for apples, there was a piñata… It was a good time."

Mom visibly relaxed and mom nodded her head approvingly. Dad had a smile and was shaking his head; Dad knows everything, I swear! Joshua hung his head as if he had been let down.

"Reno, dear," my mom addressed my dad. "What are you smiling at?" She had her brow furrowed, honestly wondering. "Is it my food? Is it so bad its funny?"

"No, sweety." Dad waved his hand nonchalantly. "I just thought of this joke Jonathan told me at the office today."

Dad knows. He always knows this stuff. I have to say, its hella scary, and I'm always afraid that he's going to call us out on our bullshit lies. But he never does, and man, am I happy for that.

**~o~  
><strong>

I was sitting in my room at my desk, finishing some homework that I had been given in Science class, minding my own business, when Axel suddenly bounds into my room.

I expected everyone to be asleep by now; lights out at ten. The only reason I was able to stay up was because I had convinced mom that I had to finish my homework. So, when Axel came in, I kind of panicked, thinking, 'Oh my god, he's going to kill me for stealing his girl. Everyone's asleep and its perfect for him. Oh my god, oh my god, oh my freaking god.'

But my death never came.

Instead, Axel just walked in, no knocking again, and stared at me expectantly. I stared back, not sure what to do or say.

"Well?" he demanded. "Let's go."

**~o~**

**A/N**

**Gasp :O Where are they going? Oh, my!**

**That was the third chapter, guys! :) Hope you liked it.**

**Review! ^^**


	4. Confusion

**~o~ Here's chapter four! :D So far already! Wow! ~o~**

Hi. I'm Roxas Richards and I'm confused.

Go where? Oh, Jesus, go where? To my funeral? I'm not ready for that yet. I'm too young to die. While my mind is going through all the possible ways he could kill me and dispose of the body, Axel throws open my closet door and starts going through my clothes.

He pulls out a sweatshirt with my high school name and logo on it and throws it to me. "Put that on."

I catch it and hold it in my hands, staring at him. "What? Why?"

He looked at me as if I was an idiot. "So you don't get sick. Duh."

Okay, I am freaked out. But I pull on the sweatshirt nonetheless and quickly pull on my shoes as he instructs (Thank god for slip on generic Vans). Axel closed my door and threw open my window. I stared at him for a moment and then at the window, not really sure what he wants, but then I get it when he arches his eyebrows and jerks his chin towards it.

I climb out with little difficulty. Though I'm not too proud of it, I'm very small. And I'm also very light, even to my own scrawny arms. So I'm out on the green grass of outside lawn in moments, the only light coming from the full moon that graces the sky tonight.

I didn't see Axel climb out because I was too busy looking around in awe. I've never been out without permission. It's weird. Really weird.

I quickly realize that this could be a set up by Axel. He could lock me out of the house as a sick idea of a joke, but when I turn around, he's standing there behind me, a light smile on his face. It quickly goes away, though, when he sees me looking at him.

"Get in the van," he demands.

I get in without a second thought. I'm happy to find that his stupid friends aren't already in there and I jump into the passenger's seat, kind of excited, even if there's a high chance Axel's just going to do something mean.

When Axel gets in, he starts up the van and a low stream of music filters in from the speakers. I never liked Axel's taste in music. He listens to death metal, not my favorite. Some band called Arch Enemy.

Axel drove for a little while before I found my voice.

"Um," I said hesitantly. "Where are we going?"

He was turning onto Maple and Oak when he said, "Cloud's."

His whore. He's taking me to his dang whore's house. I'm hurt. My feelings are hurt. Wow, that makes me mad! I stare at him and he stares back, not watching the road.

"What?" he asks, narrowly missing a stop sign.

"Take me home."

"What? Why?" Axel returned his eyes to the road for a moment before looking back at me when he stopped at a red light.

"I don't want to go to your stupid boyfriend's house." I cross my arms and sink into the seat, not caring that I look like a stupid brat throwing a fit.

Axel didn't take his eyes off of me and, when the light turned green, he didn't move. People drove around him, honking and shouting, but he didn't care. "He isn't my boyfriend."

I stared at him, looking into his deep, green eyes, a shiver going down my spine. I hate when he looks at me with those eyes; it's like he can see right into my soul. "Then what is he?" I question. "Because Sora says he's been sucking your dick."

I don't normally use foul language, so it catches me off guard when 'dick' slips from my mouth. Axel doesn't seem to notice and says, "Are you jealous?"

He has this smirk on his face, this smart ass smirk like he knows what I'm thinking. Why would I be jealous? Is he crazy? _He's _the one who likes _me. _Why should I care if he likes getting sucked off by some blonde boozy?

Axel doesn't like me! I quickly clamp my thoughts down.

"Why would I be jealous?" I sneer at him and he laughs lightly.

Sneaking his hand over to brush my cheek with his index, Axel smiles at me. For a second, he actually looked as if he was going to kiss me, and I braced myself for it, but he doesn't. Instead, he retracts his hand and starts driving again.

**~o~**

We weren't the only people at Cloud's. It was actually something that Axel called a 'lay back,' which is apparently like a small get together of friends or something.

Cloud lives in the lower part of Hesperia, over the bridge. The part that can only be described as the ghetto. It makes me nervous because there are so many cops around and Axel isn't the best, most cautious driver.

Cloud's house is smaller, a three bedroom, and white with two big light brown pit bulls in the grassless front yard. Axel held the gate open for me to step in. It's weird, but I thank him.

Instead of barking like all dogs do, the dogs ran up to us, licking and jumping on Axel and sniffing me. I'm not nervous. Pit Bulls aren't as bad as their made out to be. I used to have a really nice one, and everyone was afraid of it because it was super buff and naturally always had a snarl, but he was really a big teddy bear.

Cloud came out to greet us. He's wearing a black t-shirt that said 'IDGAF' in white spray painted letters. He has a full tattoo on his right arm, a collage of a dragon, some Koi fish, waves and flowers, tinted by color. I don't see how I've never noticed these. There really pretty, for tattoo's.

"Hi, guys," he smiled, looking between me and Axel. He has a tongue piercing, a weed leaf designing it.

Axel smiled back and said, "Hey, Cloud." I just nodded to him.

Cloud and Axel stand for a moment, talking, but I don't pay too much attention to them. I catch a few words like 'Hookah' and 'Under aged' and 'Zack.' But I don't really care.

I follow Axel in when he starts walking. Cloud has a deep red carpet and white walls. There are two long couches in an L shape around a coffee table. There's a TV in the room, and it's rather large, but no one pays attention to it as a big fat lady falls onto her butt in a lake of ice on the screen.

Their all too busy focusing on their joints.

By now, my stomach hurts from my fear and I'm nauseas. Why the heck am I here? I don't even know these people; I don't even smoke weed! I don't drink, I don't smoke, I don't party, I don't hang out with people that do… So, why am I here?

The answer to the question is behind me, his hand on the small of my back as he escorts me deeper into the house.

Cloud's room, at least, I assumed its Cloud's room, is pretty small. It has a full size mattress that takes up a generous part of the south wall and corner. The carpet is a different color- white- and the walls are a deep red as if he wanted to be 'anti-house.' There are numerous posters on the wall, several featuring naked girls (Everything is somehow covered) making out with each other. I actually find those really funny. Their just so stereotypical, and it's hilarious.

There are other posters, too, for bands, rappers and singers like Drake and Daughtry. He has one Eminem one where he's sitting in a bathtub full of blood, his eyes looking over the surface and watching your every movement. Must be a poster for Relapse. Then he has one of Katy Perry, lying on her stomach in what looks like cotton candy.

There are other people in the room, including Leon, which is weird. He nods to me and I nod back, nervous as heck. The other person I don't recognize. He has blonde hair, like Cloud, but its slicked back.

They're both sitting on the floor, Cloud sitting next to the blonde, around a big, blue hookah. It's really pretty, even if I'm not into this kind of stuff, and has the design of an ocean on it.

Axel sits next to Leon, motioning for me to sit next to him. Wait, he's including me with his friends? Is this some kind of joke? Is there poison in the Hookah? Oh, god, I am so scared. I mean, I know Axel and Leon hate me, and Cloud is best friends with Leon and _really _good friends with Axel, and this other guy I'm assuming is Cloud's brother or something because they look alike, so they would all hate me in a chain reaction, right? Which means that they would all want to hurt me in some way, right?

"This is Roxas?" the guy I don't know asks and Cloud nods, smiling at him.

"Isn't he cute?" Cloud looked to Leon who grunted. "He kind of looks like Sora, don't he?"

That made Leon snort. He looks at me, studying me, and snorts again, turning back to Cloud. He said, "Hell no." Cloud rolled his eyes and looked at me.

"He knows you do." Cloud actually doesn't seem that bad. I kinda feel bad about all that crap I've been thinking about him. "So, Roxas, how old are you?"

"Fifteen," I tell him, keeping out the fact that I just turned fifteen like, two weeks ago.

He keeps smiling- he smiles a lot- and says, "I'm about to turn eighteen. Geeze, I'm getting old." He looked to Leon. "He's nineteen! I guess I can just hang out with him? Make myself feel younger…"

Leon sneered at him. Honestly, I don't see what Sora sees in him. I mean, sure, he's hot, but he's an asshole. Excuse my language! But it's true. He's a jerk. He has a nasty attitude and a mean demeanor and he's bad. Smoking weed and drinking, getting arrested… God, I'm starting to sound like my grandma.

They started talking about someone- some guy named 'Zack'- and I kind of tuned out, completely uncomfortable. I looked up at Axel who was chuckling because of something Cloud had said, then at Leon. He so stone faced! It's weird that someone as cold and quiet as him is siblings with someone as happy and loud as Sora.

Cloud said something to me and I instantly tuned back in.

He was smiling still when he asked me, "So, Roxas, know why you're here?"

To be murdered? I shook my head and his smile grew bigger.

"Well, your gonna be part of our group. He looked up at Axel who shrugged nonchalantly. "It was Axel's idea. Says that you're actually pretty cool. So, you up for it?"

Warning, Warning: This is a trap. I repeat, this is a trap!

The alarm goes off in my head, but, I find myself wanting to believe him. God, I am just one big sack of mixed emotions, I swear.

Maybe Axel really does think I'm 'cool'? I mean, who am I to say how he feels about me? The fact that he's a jerk aside, he probably isn't as bad as I think he is. He might only be mean to the people he wants to be friends with. That might be his personality. I don't know. So, I shouldn't judge him, right?

I hesitantly nod to Cloud and his smile widens. With that, we all got up and in less than a minute, we were all getting into Cloud's car.

He has a nice car, compared to his house and neighborhood. A black Honda Civic. Axel got into the front with Cloud and I got into the back, in between Leon and that other guy. That other guy is smiling as if he knew something and I automatically knew that I had made a mistake. I looked to Leon to see how he was acting, but he had his usual solemn look decorating his face as he stared ahead, his arms crossed. He is just so dang scary!

The stereo was on and, like Axel's, the volume was very low. It was playing 'Peacock' by Katy Perry. I like this song. It's really funny.

Cloud stops suddenly and everyone is looking at me. Oh my god, it's here. I can practically see the Grim Reaper standing outside the car. "Get out," he commanded.

Leon threw the door open and, a firm grip on my forearm, pulled me out. I stumbled a little as everyone else got out. Its dark outside, but the moon is almost full and Cloud's headlights are on, illuminating everything. We're outside the Sunny Time Cemetery.

My first thought was: How Cliché. My second was: Oh my god, they're gonna feed me to zombies!

Leon didn't release my arm when we got out. Cloud came around, throwing his arm around my shoulders, a huge grin on his face. You know what, I'm starting to have second thoughts on my second thoughts about him! He _is _a dick! Crap!

"Sorry, Roxas," he was saying as they escorted me through the entrance. He isn't sorry, the jerk. "But you gotta do this for us. Well, me. See, my uncle watches the cemetery at night. So we have permission to do this. Anyway, me and my uncle need you to get us something from our family tomb. And, when Axel came to me, telling me about how you need to go through the initiation, I thought, 'Hey, this'll be perfect! He can do my dirty work!' So, here we are."

I looked to Axel who was walking beside Cloud and he smirked back at me. Oh my god, I think I hate him. I really, _really _think I hate him! And I don't hate _anybody_!

We stopped in front of a huge building and Cloud stepped away from me and up to the tomb doors, taking a set of keys out of his pocket. Crinkling his nose at the smell, he looked to me and said, "Well, there you go. Throw him in, guys."

At the cue, Axel grabbed my arm and helped Leon throw me into the tomb, that other guy throwing in a flashlight with me.

**~o~**

**A/N**

**Yeah, I made Axel a mega-douche. But, he gets better, I swear! :O Thanks for reading, guys. See you soon!**

**Review! ^^**


	5. Dark

**~o~ Chapter 5! :) ~o~**

Oh my god, I'm Roxas Richards and I am locked in a dark tomb with a bunch of dead people.

It smells so bad in here, and I can't tell if it's from the bodies lying in the coffins or if it's from all the dead animals in here. Whatever it is, it reeks!

I fumble with the flashlight, turning it on quickly and looking around me, taking deep breaths to keep myself calm. I hear Cloud's voice through the door, calling in to me. "Go to the hot pink coffin and then get that whore's jewelry."

A hot pink coffin? What is wrong with his family?

There had to be fifty damn coffins in here! They were all lined up, the ones on the wall bunk bed like, and they were all black. Except for one single hot pink one that lay right in front of me. It stuck out like a vanilla cup cake in a bucket of anchovies.

I jumped up quickly and try to open it, but it won't budge. So, I put the flashlight into my mouth and used both of my hands, pulling as hard as I can. My fingers are turning white from the pressure, a light pain jolting up my arms. I pull for at least three minutes, and then, finally, it pops open. Of course, I didn't know it was going to open, so I fall back onto my butt. "Ow!"

"You okay there, Roxas?" Cloud asks.

"Like you freaking care," I grumble, getting up and dusting myself off.

I retrieved the fallen flashlight and went back to the coffin, crinkling my nose.

There was a girl lying in it. She had blonde hair like Cloud's and was wearing a poufy pink dress. She was grayish, her skin looking like it was made from clay. She reminded me of the bodies in this movie I watched awhile ago. The Haunting in Connecticut. On her neck were two necklaces, one a large silver heart on a silver chain, the other a huge golden heart that said 'Cloud' on it. Why the heck would she have a necklace with that jerk's name on it?

I reach out to take them, but stop. I'm about to steal from a dead girl. A dead girl! She's going to haunt me for the rest of my life! But, I have to or else _Axel's _going to haunt me the rest of my life with this stupid memory of how I pussed out… So, I made my decision and gripped both of the necklaces at one, saying, "I'm so sorry." Then, I ripped them off.

"Don't forget the ring!" Cloud shouted as if he could see me.

I look to her fingers which were folded over her stomach and my eyes widen. That's the biggest freaking diamond I have ever seen! And it's on a silver band! And it has two smaller diamonds next to it! Jesus! What kind of family does Cloud come from?

Apologizing like I did before, I took her hand in mine and tried to take off the ring. It wouldn't come off. So, I pulled harder. To my dismay, I fell backwards again. I looked down at my hand and shrieked, dropping the finger that had come off, ring still on it. "Oh my god!"

I heard their laughter from outside. They're laughing at this! What sick, sick people! God, I can't wait to tell Sora about this…

Grabbing the finger (Ew!) I walked over to the doors and said, "I got them. Now, let me out!"

Moments later, the door was opened and I hopped out, shoving the jewelry and finger into Cloud's hands, glaring at him.

He dropped the finger in disgust. "Jesus! That's _sick_!"

I snarled at him and hissed, "No shit? You know what else is sick? _Stealing jewelry from dead girls_!" I turned my glare on Axel. "And letting your fucking friends send in your step brother to do their fucking laundry."  
>He seemed surprised at my use of profanity. He put his hands up in defense, enraging me even more. "Geeze, Roxas, it was just a joke."<p>

"A _joke_?" I say in disbelief. "This is a _joke_? You are sick people! Take me home, dammit!"

Cloud chuckles- Chuckles!- and nods his head to Leon. "Get the ring off the finger."

Leon makes a face. "Hell no! That's Rufus's job."

That other guy, now going under Rufus, sighed and bent down to pick up to finger. Taking off the ring, he threw it back into the tomb and Cloud closed the doors.

**~o~**

I can't believe I just stole from a dead lady. Oh my god… I'm going to hell. Satan has a special spot in hell for people like me. Right next to Hitler and Osama Bin Laden. I'm going to be tortured by Satan himself! Jesus, that isn't how I want to spend eternity. Aw, lawd, why me?

I had to go back with Cloud and then get into Axel's van so that he could take me home. I just sat there silently, my arms crossed. Axel didn't talk to me, either.

When he finally pulled up to our house, I got out and stomped over to my window, throwing it open and climbing in. I glared at him and locked my window, leaving him to go through his own. I don't want that jerk even breathing the same air as me, much less step foot in my room.

I look at my clock and see that it's three in the morning. I have school in three damn hours! How does Axel do this crap?

I fell asleep almost instantly.

**~o~  
><strong> "Wow, they really made you do that?" Sora asked me at lunch the next day as he sipped from his Capri Sun.

I sighed and nodded, my eyes heavy. "And I only got three hours of sleep."

"Wow, I didn't know that's what Leon did at night." Sora is pissed. "He left me all alone last night, and that's the night when we-!"

"Sora, no!" I said quickly, horrified. "I don't wanna know about your sex life! So, please…"

"Sorry," Sora said sheepishly, turning back to Axel's group of friends as Leon snapped at some poor kid. The kid cringed, whimpering as he scurried away. Glad I ain't him. "But really, who does the crap he does? He doesn't care what he says to anybody, jerk. I lost several good friends thanks to him."

I pursed my lips and nodded, watching Axel. I still can't believe he would do that to me. I mean, I can believe it, but at the same time, I had thought he changed. Man, I am gullible.

**~o~**

"Come to my house~!" Sora whined loudly when we were nearing the end of sixth period.

I shrugged and checked the time on my phone. I've never been good at telling time on normal clocks; I don't even try anymore. I mean, I can just look at my phone or get a digital watch. No reason to look at those.

Leon is in this class with us. He had failed it his freshman year, so now that he's a super-senior, he's retaking it. He stays in his own group of friends a few tables from us, the lot of them being super loud and rude. He's been sending me dirty looks all period, as if I had killed his puppy or something. Really, why is he mad at me? He's the one who locked me in a dang tomb!

"Call your mom," Sora demanded and I stared at him.

"In class?"

"Yes."

"…No." I went back to our science lab.

Sora never helps. I know I should be mad about it, but I never have been. Sora can't do science himself. He really can't do really anything academic, poor little guy. He grew up too sheltered to learn anything. Not trying to be rude, but, it's true. He's probably as stupid as Axel.

As if Sora could read my mind and wanted to prove me right, he picked up the beaker and started to spin the liquid contents around inside. "Look! It's a tornado!"

I rolled my eyes and took it, setting the glass beaker on the farthest edge of the table from Sora as possible. I don't need him messing up our science lab. This is two hundred points, dang it!

Sora frowned at me and drummed his fingers on the counter. As Mr. Sullivan passed, he gave Sora the stank eye and said, "You know, Mr. Leonhart, it'd be nice if you did your own work. For once. Perhaps it would help if you paid attention in class, hmm?"

The whole class went silent and stared at him, shocked. Mr. Sullivan stopped walking and I swear, I saw him swallow a huge lump in his throat. I looked to where everyone was staring, to Leon, who was so angry that he was practically fuming.

"Um, Mr. Leonhart," Mr. Sullivan said to Sora in an almost panicky tone. "Why don't you, err, go help Ms. Frasier? Since you're so good with minerals, you know…"

"I'm not good with minerals," Sora said, confused. My god, is he really this dense? "I don't even wear makeup!"

I could practically hear the whole class groan in unison. Poor Sora. Poor, poor confused Sora. He can't help being like this.

I look back to Leon who looks even angrier. His mouth is twisted in a horrifying snarl, baring his teeth and showing everyone how sharp his canines are. He has his nose crinkled, enhancing his race, his eyes blurred with emotion.

"Sullivan," he barked and Mr. Sullivan visibly flinched.

Turning, Mr. Sullivan asked, "What is it, Mr. Leonhart?"

"He can't help it," Leon told him. "Maybe if you were a better teacher, he'd know what a damn mineral was! Don't fucking treat him like it's his fall his teacher is incapable of doing his job."

"Well," Mr. Sullivan said, finding his courage and meeting Leon's eyes dead on. "I have not failed as an educator. There is no such thing as bad teachers; just bad students."

That set Leon off. He knocked everything off of his lab table, glass beakers and testing tubes falling to the ground and smashing against the hard linoleum. Everyone else is the class other than Sora and Leon cringed at the sound.

"That's bullshit!" Leon shouted, slamming his hands onto the table. At least he's showing how much he cares about Sora. "Utter bullshit, Sullivan!"

Mr. Sullivan took the walkie talkie from his hip and asked for the proctors. That left Leon three minutes to do as much damage as he could. When he was being dragged away by the big, Jamaican proctor/football coach, the classroom was practically falling apart, Mr. Sullivan hiding behind his desk and the rest of the students laughing, having joined in with him.

At least, everyone but Sora was laughing.

After class, we were sitting outside the administration office, waiting for Sora's mother to come out. I had called my mom and she said that I could go to Sora's house, but that I had to call her before six to come home. What am I, five? Sheesh!

When Sora's mom came out, she had a very solemn look on her face, her jaw set. Leon was walking behind her, a scowl on his face as he walked. Sora bounced beside him and I walked beside Sora.

We all climbed into her giant black hummer 3, Leon getting up front with her and Sora and me in the back seat. We were driving for awhile and I saw that their mother was obviously trying to hold herself in, her face turning red. It's an odd contrast to her bleached blonde hair.

Suddenly, without warning, she explodes.

"Fuck, Squall!" she screamed and we swerved, almost hitting a Fed Ex truck. According to Sora, you know craps serious when she uses his real name. "Where the fuck do you get up, messing up an entire science lab? Do you _like _making me have to pay for stupid shit? And how dare you yell at your damn teacher! You know what, when I was your age, we didn't talk to authority figures like that! Oh, and how _embarrassing_! You know I've been trying to get into that office workers pants! Having to come in here every week… You're _nineteen_! Grow up, dammit! FUCK!"

Leon waited for her to finish, something he always does. He might not seem like it, but he's really patient. But only with his family and friends. At least, that's what Sora says. I don't know him. When she was done, with that final scream of 'Fuck!' he spoke.

"He was being rude to Sora. I wasn't just going to let him talk shit to him."

"Oh, _really_?" she sneered at him, drawling. "And what exactly did he say?"

"Well," Leon said as he tried to remember. "Sora was working with Richards like he always does, and he wasn't helping because he obviously didn't know what to do, and he said something about Sora never doing his own work and that he should pay attention in class. Which would be fine because Sora really does need to pay attention in class. But, anyway, it was just the way he said it that pissed me off.

"Then he tried to cover it up because he knew that I was getting angry by asking Sora to go help that girl with the big boobs. Don't know her name. You know, the blonde one with the hazel eyes?"

"Jennifer," their mom nodded.

"Yeah, that bitch. He said that he wanted him to help because he's so good at minerals or some shit. Then _Sora _said, not helping his cause, that he didn't know about minerals and that he didn't even wear makeup."

She groaned. "Sora!"

"Bwaah I'm sorry," Sora whimpered. He's really adorable.

"Anyway, then me and Sullivan got into an argument about whether it's Sora's fault or his own. Obviously, I won."

"Well, that's a hollow victory," she said. "Your gonna be expelled before you even get to graduate if you keep this up! Principal Giovanni said this was your last strike, Leon. We're not going to be able to keep convincing the council to not kick you out!"

"I don't give a fuck," Leon snapped and she lightly flinched under his piercing eyes. "I'll just get my fucking GED or something. I mean, fuck! You're lucky I haven't dropped out yet! Oh, wait, isn't that what you and that bastard father of ours say? That I'd be a drop out?"

Ooh, this is getting good.

"You know that's not how I feel," their mother tsked. "You are just as smart as your sister. You and Sora both. You just... made different life choices."

"Well, FUCKING sorry I can't be little miss perfect!" Leon hissed. "Stop the fucking car. I'm getting out."

Their mother did without problem and Leon hopped out, taking out his cell phone. When his mother called after him saying, "Be home by seven for dinner!" he flipped her off. Geeze.

Sora sighed and turned to me. "So, so, so sorry, Roxas. That doesn't normally happen."

When his mother started to drive away, I heard her grumble under her breath, "Just a family of lies."

**~o~**

**A/N**

**Stupid place to stop. Sorry. :/ **

**Oh my gosh, you guys! I finally got my laptop fixed! Yay! :D I am so happy! Just in time for school, too. ^^ I can finally give my brother back his computer. I am sooooo happy! xD**

**Review, guys. Makes me update faster. :)**

**See you soon!**


	6. News

**~o~ Chapter *Counts fingers* six! ~o~**

Hi, I'm Roxas Richards and I'm getting the worse news of my life.

"_Camping_?" I ask in utter disbelief. "With _Axel_?"

Axel seems just as unhappy, if not unhappier. He dropped his fork when he heard. It fell onto his plate, splashing red eyed gravy all over the table. His mouth was hanging open as he stared at mom. She just stared right back at him, a stern look on her face.

"It's final," she said. "If you want to go, Axel, you have to take your brother. Its the only way that I know that you and your friends aren't doing anything bad! Besides, you guys need to spend more time together. Most step brothers as close in age as you two are really close! I read it in a magazine."

"Therefore, it must be true," dad snorted. He instantly quieted when she shot him one of her looks. With a cough, he said, "That's a great idea, honey! I think Roxas should go, too!" She didn't see him wink at me and mouth, "Have fun."

So, it was decided. I was to go on a camping trip with Axel and his stupid friends. That's not exactly how I planned to spend the first few days of my Christmas break. Oh, well. Guess I have no choice.

We were supposed to be leaving tonight, so after dinner, Axel demanded that I pack. He told me not to wear any 'Nerd Clothes.' I don't wear freaking nerd clothes. I dress like any other teenage boy. Excuse me for not wanting to cut off circulation to my legs with those stupid girl skinny jeans! I mean, dang! I do wear skinny jeans, though. Their just not tight, you know? I don't want to not be able to move just because I want to be in fashion.

Axel came with me into my room to watch me pack. Weirdo.

I dumped out my backpack on my bed and started to pull crap out of my closet, not caring what I grab.

"You know we're going to the mountains, right?" he asks and I groan, dumping out my bag again.

I replace the earlier clothes with my warmer clothes, stuffing in my sweat shirt. Axel is watching me but I ignore his stupid judgmental butt. I haven't talked to him at all since he and his friends had me steal that dead girl's jewelry. I mean, why should I? He's a jerk! How _dare _he! I've had a nightmare every night since then and every time I think about it I feel so bad that I get physically sick. Like now. My stomach is killing me! I feel like I have to puke...

Apparently, we're going to Cloud's family lodge in the middle of a forest on top of a super snowy mountain. I don't understand how Cloud's family can afford things like family tombs, custom coffins, gold and silver jewelry, nice cars, and now, a lodge, yet he lives in such a crappy part of town! In such a crappy house!

Cloud came to pick us up around nine thirty. It was raining out when we left, the moon hidden behind the stormy rain clouds. Cloud was driving a Expedition now, I noted. Axel and I both got into the back-back where a girl was already sitting.

Cloud is driving, a man a little older then him sitting in the passenger's seat. He had black hair and a smile on his face as he said something to Cloud. Leon was sitting in the front back by the window, pissed off about something. Next to him was that guy Rufus and next to Rufus is one of the guys I remember being on the couch. He has red hair that's pulled back into a ponytail. Next to me where I sat in the middle is a girl with short black hair. She's staring at the rain dripping down the window.

"Good to see you again, Roxas," Cloud said suddenly. Ugh, his voice is making me nauseous. "We haven't scared you off yet?"

"I don't want to be here," I spat at him. "My mom made me come."

The guy up front sighed and looked to Cloud. "What did you do to him?"

Cloud shrugged and kept driving, choosing not to answer the question.

I want to shout out 'What did he do to me? He locked me in a tomb and made me steal jewelery from some dead chick! He traumatizedme!' But I didn't. If I'm going to have to stay with them for three days, I don't want to start crap on the way there.

We were driving for three hours when I started to get tired. The girl next to me had fallen asleep as well as Rufus who was leaning on the redhead who was texting. Leon was talking quietly on his own phone, smiling. The black haired guy was arguing with Cloud about something, but they were quiet about it. God, I swear, their going to crash and kill us all.

What time is it? It has to be only twelve. Long drives always make me tired. The dark isn't helping, either.

I was falling asleep at an alarmingly fast rate, lolling lightly as I fought to keep my eyes open. I was startled awake when I felt an arm go around me and pull me into Axel.

"Are you tired?" he asked. I can't see his face because of how dark it is. Its scary.

Why does he have an arm around me? Oh, god. Why the heck does he have his arm around me! I want to scream and push him away out of fear of him, but his touch is making my stomach tie in a knot and my head numb.

"Kinda," I reply, subconsciously leaning into him. The tired feeling is sinking into my body and mind again, drowning out the butterflies and accompanying the numbness.

He smells really, really, really good. He wears Axe, something that completely fits his manly personality. His cardigan still has the smell of Downy and its a nice mix with the body spray. And he's warm. I can't decide whether the effect all this is doing to me is bad because we're both guys, bad because we're step brothers or bad because he's a mega-jerk. Heck, the way I'm feeling right now, I can't even decide if its bad!

I fell asleep, not caring to think about it anymore.

**~o~**

I woke up to yelling. Cloud and that other guy were fighting very heatedly. They had switched sits and now that other guy (Who's name I need to learn) is driving. Cloud is sitting in his seat, his arms crossed, pouting.

I rub my eyes and let out a content sigh, feeling much better. The girl next to me was still asleep but Rufus was awake and texting on his phone, the redhead still doing the same. I look at my own phone screen and see that its almost three in the morning. The rain outside has turned to snow so I know that we're getting higher into the mountains.

Axel is asleep, too. For as long as I've lived with him, he's always been able to sleep through everything.

I pulled myself from his warmth, stretching and sighing again.

Cloud gives up on their argument with one last aggravated shout of the F word. Keeping his arms crossed, he glared out the window.

We were at the cabin half of an hour later. By then, Axel and the girl next to me have woken up, too. We all hopped out, Axel carrying my bag for me. His chivalry is getting weird. One second he's a complete jerk to me and the next he's putting his arm around me and carrying my bag. He's starting to freak me out.

When I get out of the Expedition, my feet sink to my knees into the high snow. I have to trudge through with much difficulty, Axel walking by my side and guiding me to the large log house in front of us. Its huge! Bigger then Sora's house and my own put together, and Sora's house is freaking big.

"Well, looks like Zack's gonna have a hell of a time shoveling this snow off the path," Cloud says and the black haired guy, Zack, sighs.

The snow falling around us is very pretty. Its not falling like a storm the way it was earlier. Its more of a light fall surrounding us and falling delicately to the already white ground. It never rains in Hesperia. Its rare that we even get rain.

After what seems like a century of hard work, getting complaints from everyone including Cloud, we finally make it to the porch. I'm freezing by then, my legs soaked from the snow. Cloud unlocked the door and pushed it open. We were instantly assaulted by warmth that wafted from the house.

The house is beautiful. It has a polished hard wood floor with 'forest fashioned' furniture. A moose head is mounted over the fireplace, some stuffed squirrel skins on the mantle all holding candles between their stiff fingers. There is a big bear skin carpet in the middle of the couches, an old fashioned TV on a oak wood stand with deer horns on top of it.

Cloud dropped his bag and put his hands on his hips, grinning. "Well, here we are, gang! Make yourselves at home."

I look around. The stairs go up into a balcony like hallway. Axel said that we were staying in one of the upstairs rooms together. He lead me up the stairs and to the eighth (Eighth!) door, opening it.

It has one bed. One! This won't do. Even if the bed is a California king, I don't think I can trust Axel and me sleeping in the same bed. Not with the way he's been acting lately. There are framed paintings on the walls of forests scenes and animals and hunting dogs. There are two nightstands on wither side of the bed, one having a snake lamp the other having a jack rabbit lamp. Scary!

Axel threw both of our bags by the flat screen and sat on the bed. I fidget a little before sitting next to him. This is going to suck. This is going to be a sucky time. I'm on top of a mountain in the middle of a forest, snow is everywhere, I'm surrounded by mean people who hate me and I don't particularly like myself and I have to share a room- a bed- with Axel. God, just strike me dead now.

"So," Axel says, patting his legs rhythmically.

"So," I mimic. Well, this is awkward.

"Nice place, huh?" Axel says, looking for an agreement. I just nod. "Yeah, Cloud's family is loaded. More then Leon. I guess that's why their such good friends. Rich people stick with rich people."

"Why did he live in such a crappy house in such a crappy part of Hesperia?" Okay, I know that question is rude, but at this point I don't care if I'm rude. And plus, I just _need _to know. It's been bugging me for forever.

Axel shrugged and said, "He lives by himself 'cause his mom kicked him out. His grandparents, the source of all the money, wanted to help but Cloud's hard headed."

"Does he have a job?" I ask.

Axel shrugged again and said, "Kinda."

I don't know what he means by 'kinda' but I nod, choosing not to ask. I don't know anything about Cloud, but from what I do know, he could be a drug seller or a prostitute. Or both. I mean, I'm not just saying that because I don't like him. Okay, I am. But still!

Axel yawned, covering his mouth. He yawned like Sora. Sora never opens his mouth wide when he yawns and covers up his mouth and most of the bottom half of his face. Its cute when he does it, but weird when a beast like Axel does.

"I am so tired," Axel said. "Only got like, two hours of sleep."

I nod. I'm kind of tired, too. I woke up much to early. Its like, four. The sun isn't even coming up yet, its so early. But the snow seems to let out its own light so its kind bright in the room, even with only one of the lamps on.

There was a knock on the door and when Axel grunted loudly, Cloud opened the door and walked in. Great. Just what I flipping need.

He looked around the room, smiling as always. "Nice, huh, Axel?" He made a point to address Axel. "I used to love coming here as a kid." He looked and noticed me for the first time, his smile gone and replaced with a blank look. "Your bunking with Roxas? There are free rooms, you know."

"I know," Axel said, bumping my shoulder with his own. "I just don't want him to stay alone. Hate to say it but I don't trust you guys with my step brother. I mean, with the shit we're gonna be doing, I want to keep him on good terms."

Ah. So _that's _why he's been so nice. He doesn't want me telling on him. What are we, five? And, haven't I already proven that I'm not a tattle tale? What the heck are they going to be doing, anyway? Geeze, I have a headache.

Cloud nodded his understanding and said, "Fine. Just don't get cum all over the sheets, you bastard."

When he left, he slammed the door. Man, someone is one angry camper. I turned to Axel and asked, "What the heck was all that about?"

Axel shrugged. "He loves me. You hungry?" I shook my head. "Okay. I'll be right back, then."

He left, too, leaving me all alone in the room. Now that I'm alone its kind of creepy. All the dead animals and whatnot. The floor in front of the bed has a deer skin in front of it. Who has deer skin rugs? I mean, I can understand bear, but _deer_? Geeze!

I was sitting there for ten minutes when I realized that I had to pee. I sighed and stood up, not really wanting to leave the safety of this room. But I did for the seer hope of being able to fine a bathroom by myself. So I leave the room in search of the porcelain throne.

I take one step out and I'm already lost. Do you know how many rooms are in this hallway? Thirteen. Thirteen! I counted. He has thirteen stupid rooms in this stupid house that is just a vacation home. I hate Cloud, I swear, I am going to kill him in his sleep. I've always disliked the fact that all of the worst people get all of the best stuff.

I found the bathroom and I don't know how I didn't before. It had a half moon carved into the thick wood with the indent painted black. Above it in the same fashion are the woods 'Latrine.' Its because of how early it is that I couldn't find it before. Don't judge me.

After 'leaking the snake' as my father would say, I left the bathroom. Leon was leaning over the railing, still on his phone. Being the creeper I am, I listened to his conversation as I passed by.

"-llshit. Just come out here. Have that slut- I mean, have Kairi- bring you out. Okay. See you soon. Love you." I never would have imagined Leon saying that he loved somebody! Wow.

My hand was on the door handle when someone laid their hand on my shoulder. It surprised me to where I turned around quickly, flailing my hands like a mad man and hitting the person who had touched me on the bottom of his chin by accident.

"Ow! Shit!" Zack rubbed his chin and pouted. "Jesus! This is my money maker, man! Ow, ow, ow..."

"I am so sorry!" I covered my mouth and kept apologizing until he waved his hand and told me that it was fine.

When he was done rubbing his chin he said, "God... Anyway, I wanted to talk to you." I stared at him expectantly and he shook his head. "In private. Is this your room?" I nodded nervously and he opened it, scrunching his nose. "One bed? Aren't you sharing this with your brother?"

"Step brother," I say, stepping in. He steps in after me and closes the door.

The look he's giving me is making me nauseous. I feel like he's going to jump on my and rip out my jugular with his bare teeth. I don't know why this man whom I have never talked to before would want to talk to me in private. Jesus, does he hate me, too, because of Cloud? He's going to kill me and throw my body into the snowy forest for the hungry hunting animals that have no food right now because all of the prey is in hibernation.

He says, "What did Cloud do to you?"

"What?" I furrow my brow at him. What kind of question is that?

Zack explains, "I mean, to be in the group. You know, like how he made Rufus his slave and had Axel break into the classroom of the dead science teacher and steal all her old stuff. What did he make you do?"

I pressed my lips in a thin line. This is Cloud's boyfriend, and, no matter how much I hate Cloud, I don't want to say something that might mess up his relationship. Even if he deserves it. I'm not that mean.

I shrug nonchalantly and say, "It was nothing, really." He gives me a look and I crack, sighing. "He locked me in his family tomb." He gives me the same look, stronger this time. "And... made me steal some jewelery from one of the bodies..."

Zack cursed and said, "I was wondering how he got that necklace back!"

"What?" I give him an odd look, confused.

He walks around the room, looking at all of the stuff. At some things he nodded approvingly, at others he snorted. While doing so he said, "That chick you stole from was probably his older sister. You know how families always have that one golden child? Yeah, that was her. And Cloud was kind of the black sheep, hated by most of the family because he was the child of an affair or something. Anyway, that was a necklace he got from his grandma, and she got it through a drunken bet and to mock him she wanted to be buried in it or whatever. Is that a deer rug?"

While my brain was processing all of the new information, he turned to me again, the look on his face desperate. "Hey, um, I know that this is weird and kind of personal but, do you know if Cloud's been messing with your brother?"

"Step," I push. "And, no." Even though I _so _do! Oh noes, I'm a liar! I'm going to burn in Dante's inferno for all eternity for this! "I don't think that he'd cheat on you." Not that I know him.

Zack sighed, relieved. Now I feel bad. "God, thank you so much. I wouldn't think that Axel would do anything, anyways. We're good friends, kind of. And from what I understand he likes someone. Or something. Hey, are you hungry? I'm hungry. Lets go eat, yeah?"

I shook my head saying, "No, I'm fine."

"Oh. Okay, well, you should go to sleep 'cause your gonna be up all night."

"Why?" I ask. I have no idea why we're out here, much less why I would stay up all night.

"Oh," Zack says, looking around again. Does he have ADD? "We're having a party. A big one. People are comin' from all over, a bunch of bands, their band is playing, there's gonna be a stage, alcohol, drugs, hot girls, blah blah blah. You know, Cloud stuff. He likes girls, you know that? Is that a snake?"

The door opened and Axel walked in. He stopped when he saw Zack, his brow furrowed. "Zack? What are you doing in here?"

"Huh?" Zack turned from gawking at the lamp, a bored look on his face when he saw Axel. "Oh, hi, Axel. I'm just talking to your brother."

"Step," I say.

"He's pretty cool," Zack goes on. "Why haven't I met him before? Huh? I like him. Hey, Roxas, have a boyfriend? Because I have a brother around your age. Or are you straight? Because I have a sister around your age, too. No, wait, she'd three. No, I have two sisters and one of them is around your age. How old are you?"

"Um, I'm single, I'm straight and I'm sixteen," I say, trying to get all the questions out of his babble.

Zack laughs and points at me happily, looking back at Axel. "He speaks Zackanese! Awesome! I love this kid!"

Aw, I'm flattered. Finally, one of Axel's friends who like me! Hallelujah!

Axel isn't so happy, though. He has his lips pressed in a thin line as he gnaws on the corner of the bottom one. "Yeah, well, he's going to sleep."

"Ooh," Zack says, baring his teeth. "So snappy, Axel. I get it, I get it. I don't judge. Nope, everyone knows that Zack Fair doesn't judge. Well, I'll see you guys later. By, Roxas! It was awesome talking with you. 'Scuse me, Axel." The whole time he was talking he walked across the room doing all these had motions as he made his way to the door. Once it was closed, Axel turned to me.

"What the fuck did he say to you?"

I put my hand up in defense. Geeze, I have no idea why he's so mad! I say, "Nothing! Why?"

He pursed his lips at me and shook his head, still giving me that accusing look. "No reason."

He walked over to the window, looking out. I watched him, wondering why he was getting so mad over something so stupid. He might not like Zack because he's into Cloud and Zack has Cloud and he doesn't, but I'm not jumping to conclusions. Okay, I am.

He steps away from the window and pulls off his black and red cardigan, throwing it to the ground. So messy. Then he takes off his shirt and throws that to the ground, too. He's pretty muscular. Has a nice little six pack going on. He has a tattoo on his chest right above his heart with his mother's name, Rikku, in cursive with the date of her death underneath it. How sweet! My mom obviously doesn't know about it.

He looks up at me and smirks. "Like what you see?"

I make a face. "God, no. What are you doing?"

He rolls his eyes and starts to pull off his pants. Then he realizes that he's still wearing his shoes and sits down on the floor, the pants to his knees, and starts to untie the black sneakers. He throws them across the room where they hit the wall loudly and hits the ground. "I sleep in my underwear. Don't you?"

I frown. "Well, yeah, I guess. Sometimes. But not when I'm sleeping in a bed with someone else. Its... weird."

Axel stands up, using the wall for help, and finally pulls off his pants completely. He wears boxer briefs because you can't wear boxers in skinny jeans, even if their not that tight like his or mine, and he sure as heck won't wear tidy whities.

Axel is blinding me with how god like his body is. Way to make a boy feel bad about himself. Here I am, all small and scrawny. It makes sense for Axel to be well sculpted. He was in football for a while so he had to work out, and even after he dropped out he kept working out at the school gym.

Axel sat on the bed and watched me expectantly. I reluctantly took off my own shirt and shoes, but I kept my pants on when I sat on the edge of the bed.

I just knew that it was going to be an awkward night.

**~o~**

**A/N**

**I know that this is really really really late. All my fanfictions are late right now because my internet arrangements are all messed up. So, I am so sorry! :( **

**I dyed my hair again! :D I know that you guys can't see me but I thought that I would say that. I wanted to covered up the bleached parts that I had so I just lazily dyed it all black again. Because, like I said, I'm lazy and didn't want to go through the hassle of making the bleached parts the same brown as the rest of my hair because I knew that it would be a hassle. I even took new pics for my Facebook, and I never take pictures~! :)**

**Review, guys! See you soon! :3**


	7. Cool

**~o~ Sora's POV for chapter 7. :) You guys are gonna hate me after this one, I swear. Enjoy! ~o~**

Hi, I'm Sora Maslin or Leonhart, either one's cool, and Its a pleasure to meet you.

The music in my room was playing so loud that the females accompanying me practically had to scream to be heard. As Drake rapped about having his fame forever I passed the joint to the girl next to me on my bed. Samantha Dropped it and it fell to my floor. She quickly picked it up and we all laughed through our high. Rebecca was sitting in my blue bean bag across from us, a green apple Four Loko happily nuzzled to her chest.

"You know whats funny," Rebecca shouted, the blunt in between her fingers. "Is that we came here to do a science report!"

I still can't believe stupid Mr. Sullivan gave us a project to do over out break! I really, really, _really _hate him. I want to puke in his mouth, I hate him so much.

We all laughed again. Samantha said, "I know, right? We're probably going to end up having a threesome or something." She tucked some of her black hair behind her ear, crossing her legs with difficulty due to how tight her pants were. Her spaghetti strap tank top rided up, giving me a clear view of her perfectly flat stomach, heart tattoo on her pelvic and the piercing she has on her belly button that she had done at lunch a few months ago.

"Leon can join, too," Rebecca laughed loudly. Oh, hell no.

"He is _sooo_ hot," Samantha sighed. Oh. Hell. No. "Where is he, Sora? I wanna hang out with him, too!"

I picked up my own Four Loko and took a drink. I could feel the alcohol burn my throat, even through the high and buzz I had worked up. I said, "He's getting ready for some camping trip with his friends in his room."

The song changed to 'Christmas Tree' by Lady Gaga and Space Cowboy. Leon showed me this song. It was weird because he hates Lady Gaga and calls her 'Lady Fagot', yet he was in love with this song for the longest time.

Rebecca pouted and said, "I wanna see him!" She looked like she was about to throw a fit. Thankfully, Samantha's phone went off and she frowned at the screen.

"Becca," she said to her sister. "Mom says she wants us home. She's coming to pick us up."

"Aaaw," Rebecca groaned, standing up. She stumbled slightly and put out the joint in my ash tray and handed me her drink. "This sucks! We didn't even finish the report."

I walked them down and waited with them until their mother came. When she did, they both kissed me on my cheek and jumped into their mini van, their mother giving me the stank eye. I went back into my house, traveled into my kitchen and ate some bread and drank some water to break off the buzz. It worked pretty good to where I was able to walk straight. My head was still numb, though.

I cleaned up my room, throwing away the cans in the trash can outside so that the Primate can't find them then went back into my house. Leon was out of his room now, watching a rerun of Jersey Shore. I sat on the other couch and crossed my arms, watching as Sammi told Ronny that she wanted him back. Hoe.

Leon looked at me and I stared back. He patted the spot next to him and I smiled, getting up to sit next to him.

"Hi," I said happily.

"Hey," Leon replied, putting his arm around my shoulders.

I leaned into him, sighing, completely content. I am not fazed that he is my brother at all. I know I should be, but, I guess I'm just weird. Whatever.

We were snuggling on the couch for half an hour before we saw the familiar silver Corvette pull into the driveway through the window and he all but threw me off of him. I went to sit on the other couch. When Thomas, AKA the Primate, came into the house the happy atmosphere we were in completely changed and turned to death. Leon got up from his couch and pushed past the primate to go to his room.

The primate yelled after him, "Where the fuck do you think your going?" I could smell the alcohol stench emitting off of him from where I was sitting feet away. "Squall!"

Leon ignored him as he always did, leaving me to deal with the bastard step dad. He turned all his anger on me and shouted, "What the fuck are you looking at, fagot?"

I gritted my teeth, standing up. When I walked past him, he reached out a hand to stop me, putting it around my wrist. I turned around and jerked my arm away, glaring at him and shouting, "Don't fucking touch me!"

He tried to grab me again and I pushed him away. He pushed me over and I knocked into the entry table where we put all the nice family pictures for people who come and visit to see and be tricked into thinking that we're the family that they want to be. When I was falling over it I hit the pictures on the walls, too, knocking those over with the others. As I fell I grabbed onto him, thinking, better both of us than just me.

He fell on top of me. I heard the glass of the picture frames break under our combined weight. I was holding onto the collar of his dress shirt with both of my hands. He pulled himself away and kept sitting on top of me, trying to reach his hands down to do serious damage. I kept hitting them away, cursing at him. "Get the fuck off of me!"

Leon had come back out and pulled him off with difficulty. They both fell back into the wall, knocking down even more pictures. They were stomped on during their tussle, the glass completely shattering. During it, Leon had told me to go to my room. I didn't listen, of course. I was too busy yelling at the Primate to get off of him and hitting his back. The Primate elbowed me off but I went right back.

I hate having to do this. I hate that I know while all this is going on my mom is listening in her room, laying in her bed, watching the TV with the sound on mute. She isn't a mother, just a women who's vagina had magically stretched to pop out four little babies. You have to have that natural sense of worry for your children, that drive to protect them from being hurt by douche bag step fathers to be a mother. You can give birth to someone, be their mom, but to be a _mother _you have to care.

My little brothers come out of their room, their eyes wide, the littlest one crying. The older one, Giovanni at eleven, looks just like his father. Big brown eyes, a firm set jaw, jet black hair. The only thing he's missing is the five o'clock shadow and stench of booze and sweat and hookers. The younger one, Lionize at seven, is crying his eyes out. He looks like my mom. Light brown hair and average sized green eyes. He has her dimples too, on his rosy cheeks. He should have been a girl in my opinion.

"Daddy!" Lionize cries loudly. He pulls me off of his dad and I stumble slightly. He always takes the Primate's side. "Get off of him, fagot!"

I am utterly shocked that he would call me that. Fagot? He called me a _fagot_? He can't know what that means. He's only saying it because his dad calls me it on a ten minute basis. "What did you just call me?" I heard myself asking.

He stood up to me, his chest out. Leon had pushed the Primate off who was sputtering curses and covering his bleeding nose. He watched Lionize with me, his stormy eyes boring into the boy's being. Lionize said in the strongest voice he could muster, "Fagot."

"Go to your room," Leon snapped at him.

Giovanni had left the room to get some paper towels. He handed them to his father then offered one to Leon. Leon wasn't bleeding so he refused.

The primate glared at Leon, snarling. "Fucking fagots."

Yup. Just another day in the Maslin/Leonhart/Ford household.

**~o~**

Leon left around nine fifteen. Before he did, he came into my room.

"I'm leaving," he said. I was sitting at my computer. The girls and I were doing the project via web cam. "Can I talk to you?"

"Um, yeah." I turned back to the girls and said, "I'll be right back." They said okay and I turned off the camera. Turning back to Leon, I adjusted my glasses. "What's up?"

Leon shifted his weight to his other leg uncomfortably. He had his hands in the pockets of his American Eagle jeans. He looks good. "Don't let Tom hit you."

I snorted. "No shit?" That's a no brainier. Yeah, I'm just gonna let him hit me.

"You know what I mean," he says, aggravated. "If he hits you, call me, okay? You can come out with Kairi or something. Are you sure you don't want to go?"

I shook my head, waving my head. "I don't like your friends. Besides, I'm always getting in your way. Your like, always looking after me. I don't want to ruin your good time."

"You won't 'ruin my good time,'" he insists. "I'd actually have more fun if you went."

I stared at him in mock shock, covering my mouth. "Oh my god, did Squall Leonhart just say something _nice_? Oh, dear Jesus, its the Apocalypse! I didn't even get to tell Kairi that I'm secretly in love with her!" He rolled his eyes and sighed. I sighed right back and picked at my nails. "I'll be fine. But, yeah, I'll call you if he hits me."

He motions for me to go to him and I do, adjusting my glasses again. I took out my contacts because its easier to focus on the computer screen with glasses and its much more comfortable. I don't care if I look like a nerd, darn it!

He surprises me by hugging me. Geeze, everyone is surprising me today! He holds me really close, sighing. "I love you."

"I love you too, Leon," I say, unsure. What, is he going out to kill someone or something and he doesn't know when he's going to see me again? Because that's what happens when I watch movies and stuff and I don't want him to be arrested or go on the run.

I heard the Primate yelling down stairs and the honk of Cloud's horn. Stupid tool. He pulled away and kissed me quickly before leaving. I returned to my conversation with the two hot sister's with d-cup breasts who want to get into my pants. Hell, yeah.

**~o~**

I was sleeping when Thomas kicked open my door. I had fallen asleep after ending a long conversation with Leon while he was riding out to the mountains. When I looked at my alarm clock I saw that it was three in the freaking morning.

"Fagot," he said, stumbling and knocking into my desk. My lamp fell over and broke on the floor. "Get your ass up. I'm not... gonna let you sleep this... late. Its three in the afternoon, dammit!" He leaves and starts pacing the halls, screaming, "Wake up!"

My mom walks out of their room. She's wearing sweat pants and a wife beater, rubbing her eyes. Her hair is up in a messy bun. She glares at me and says, "Who the fuck are you looking at so crazy?"

I glare back at her and say, "Fuck off, Laddish."

The Primate's head snaps my way. His stupid forehead is creased as he frowns at me, his dark eyebrows drawn together in anger and brown eyes wide. His nostrils are flaring as he takes in deep breaths. As always, he has a five o'clock shadow and he's wearing his grease stained mechanic overalls. I don't know why he's wearing those now when he was wearing a dress shirt and slacks earlier. His big hands are balled into fists, blackened from all the working he does on engines in our 'family' shop. His big, muscular gorilla chest is out.

"Did you just call your mother by your first name?" he demanded.

"Yeah, so?" Okay, I know this is stupid, but I stand up to him. Even though Leon isn't here to protect me from this bastard. I knew what was coming before it came. I knew that he was going to hit me. Its what he always does. But it was still a shock when he backhanded me.

I stumbled over from the force, rubbing my cheek. The hit had made me cut my cheek on my teeth and I felt my mouth slowly fill with the coppery sweetness blood. Snarling at him, I stood up straight and put my fists at my sides. I don't know why I do this. He's just so strong, its stupid! But I always do. But normally, Leon is here to help me out.

He pointed his big muscle rigged finger at me and said, "How many god damn times do I have to tell you not to call her that? _Huh_? Think your so grown, huh?" He looked around mockingly. "Don't see your brother anywhere. Who's gone protect you now, boy? I could beat you to death if I wanted!"

"Then do it," I spat.

I knew right away that that was a mistake because the primate came to me and gripped a handful of my hair. My glasses fell forward and I accidentally stepped on them when I was yanked to follow him, crushing them under the bottom of my shoe. Just what I get for wearing shoes in the house.

As he dragged me to the first floor bathroom, me stumbling behind him, I threw a glance to my mom. She isn't even reacting. Just staring back at me, a blank look on her face while I'm being pulled to my definite beating, possible death. Why was I cursed with a piece of shit mother? Why can't I have one like Roxas's? Tifa is so nice and sweet and clueless and funny. Roxas has all the luck, I swear.

The primate threw me to the hard bathroom floor, bringing me from my thoughts. It hurt. Bad. I bit my tongue and even more blood filled my mouth. Blood dripped down my chin because of how deep I bit it. To make things worse, the primate sat on top of me and gripped my face with one of his massive hands. I imagine that I look like a gold fish; his finger squeezing my cheeks and definitely giving me bruises.

I've always been thankful that people thought that I was stupid. It gave me room to lie about how I get my visible bruises. 'I fell down some stairs,' I'd tell them. Their reply? 'Oh, Sora! Your always falling down.' Why? Because I'm stupid. No, I'm book stupid. I don't pay attention in class. I don't have much common sense, either, I know. But I don't fucking fall. I have great balance! I watch where I walk! I don't even think its possible for someone to fall as much as I tell people! And sometimes I can say that their hickeys because people think that I hump every girl who throws their vagina on me. There's a lot, by the way. Apparently I don't make it obvious enough that I'm not all that into girls.

"How do you address your mother?" the primate questions me, squeezing my cheek harder.

I found it difficult to reply, but I did and said, "Laddish." Yeah, I'm hard headed. But, I mean, who's this idiot to tell me how to address my own mother?

He asked me again, "_How do you address your mother_?" My reply was the same. He knows that he'd have to do more that that to make me listen to him. He isn't stupid.

With one last squeeze, he forcefully lets my face go, pushing my head back to hit against the tile of the bathroom floor. Then he got up, a huge weight literally being lifted from my chest.

He walked over to the bathtub and sat on the side, whistling 'Fake It' by Seether. When he was distracted with plugging up the tub and filling it up, I crawled over to the door, resting my hand on the door knob. He noticed and threw a shampoo bottle at me, hitting the wall behind me. Startled, I jumped away from the door and rested my back against the sink cabinets.

I'm going to die. Oh my god, I'm going to die! He's going to drowned me and even if I run he's going to get me so it's useless. It'll just make him mad and make my death worse. Why can't I ever just shut up and do as I'm told? Why do I always have to talk back? I should have just kissed this bastards ass. I wouldn't be on the way to my death bed if I had. But, no, Sora just _has _to talk back and show his ass. Sora just _has _to show that he's tough, too. I just can't let people see me lose.

The time that it took to fill up that tub seemed like hours. I felt like I had been sitting on that hard floor, my butt falling asleep as I leaned against the cabinets for hours. In reality it was only around twenty minutes, but I was too busy inwardly panicking. I mean, I'm about to die, dammit!

When it was full, the primate checked the temperature, now whistling 'Sober.' If I was to see him as a stranger on the street, I would never think that he'd be a P!nk fan. Of course, I'd never think he'd be this crazy either.

He stood up and I flinched, scooting over so that I was against the wall. When he grabbed onto me again, I struggled. In the process of him getting me over to the tub, I had knocked down everything from the marble counter top, kicked the toilet seat off and hit off the roll of toilet paper.

Thomas kneeled on the floor next to me, his hand having a firm grip on a fist full of my hair. Hovering my face just above the water, he asked, "Now, what do you call your mother?"

I could see my reflection in the clear water. My nose was lightly touching it, making circles that got bigger and bigger. I panicked. My mind went blank. What do I call my mom? Oh my god, what do I call my mom! I ended up saying, "Laddish!" It was an accident. But I was getting my head dunked under water anyway. I wasn't able to change my answer like it was some stupid bubble test.

The tub overfilled with water because of how much area my head and his arm took up. It fell to the ground in a pool and my shoes squeaked against the wet ground as I frantically moved my legs, trying to push myself up.

When I was feeling myself fade, he pulled my head out. I gasped for breath, some of my hair stuck to my face. I had my eyes squeezed shut against the water falling down my face, my heart beating fast. I could hear it in my ears. When I opened my eyes I saw that the water had turned red. Am I bleeding that much?

He came close to me and hissed in my ear, "What do you call her?"

"M-mom!" I said quickly, my teeth chattering. That water is cold! "I c-c-call her m-mom!"

"Eeeh," he screeched, mimicking a buzzer sound. "Wrong."

He dunked my head in again. I put my hands against the tub, trying to at least push my chest away from the tub. The had surface of it was probably giving me a long bruise on my chest. I bruise easily. I have since I was a child.

I kicked my feet again, making a mess in the wet toilet paper and splashing about. This sucks; I thought he wanted me to call her mom? What does he want, 'Mother?' Or maybe 'Ma'am?' When he pulled me out again, it took me longer to catch my breath. He waited patiently for me to stop gasping. I really wish he was this patient with everything else.

When I was done, he asked me the same question. This time I replied with, "Mother?"

He smiled down at me. "Right. Now, go down there and address her correctly."

I stood up quickly, slipping a little. When I hand touched the doorknob, I coughed into my other hand, hacking up water. I put all of my weight on the door, falling out and hitting the floor. My head hit against the wall, making my vision hazy and unfocused.

My head is swimming. I can't see. I'm in pain. I'm in shock. I can't get myself up, I can barley breath. I lay there on my back, gasping for breath and coughing. I feel like my lungs are filled with water because of how I tried to inhale under the water.

A shadow goes over me and I flinch, imagining Thomas's big form hovering over me. When I open my eyes, I don't see the Primate. I see Giovanni.

He sticks his hand out to help me up. I take it and he pulls me up. I don't know if he's big for eleven or if I'm small for sixteen, but we're the same size. He puts my arm around his shoulders and he helps me, practically carries me, to my room. He tucks me into my bed, wet.

"Are you okay?" he asks. I grunt and nod, burying my face in my pillow. I just want to go back to sleep. "Do you need anything, Sora?"

I open my eyes, half lidded. "Can you hand me my phone?"

He nods and gets it from where its charging on my bedside table. When he gives it to me, he leaves. I automatically call Leon. He answers on the second ring. -Hello?-

"Hi," I said. I can barley hear myself with how numb my head is and weak my voice is.

-Whats going on?- he demands. -What happened? Are you okay?-

"The fucking primate tried to drown me in the bathtub," I told him, straight forward. "And I practically bit threw my goddamn tongue when he threw me to the floor. And he man handled me."

-What exactly did he do?- I could tell that he was pissed off by the tone of his voice. People think that Leon is a monotone person, but if you listen you can tell that his voice changes a lot. I told him everything from the beginning, about all my new bruises, how I bit my tongue, about how my glasses broke and that Giovanni had to help me get to my room.

-That's bullshit,- he said when I was done. -Just come out here. Have that slut- I mean, have _Kairi_- bring you out.-

"Okay," I said, knowing that Kairi would jump at the opportunity. "Text me the directions."

-Okay. See you soon.- He paused before saying, -Love you.-

"I love you, too." I couldn't help but smile. I just _love _it when Leon tells me he loves me. Its just... great.

When I called Kairi she answered on the last ring. There was loud music playing in the background and I could hear Riku talking to someone else in the background. I think he's gay. And I think he wants me because he's always checking me out and flirting with me. Not that I would do anything with him. I'm just saying.

I simply asked her, "Wanna go to a big party in the mountains?"

She replied with, "Fuck yeah!"

**~o~**

** A/N**

** Was that too much? :O Why do I always bully Sora in my fanfictions? :/ I don't hate him, I swear! I actually really love him. He's just so cute and adorable! That's probably why I like to taint him so...**

** ._.**

** Anycunt, hope you guys liked~! See you soon!  
>Reviews fuel the writing gnomes in my mouth. :3<strong>


	8. Hell

**~o~ Chapter eight. :) ~o~**

I'm Roxas Richards and I just woke up in hell to my step brother practically humping me.

Axel had all of his heavy weight on me, his leg wrapped around min and his Peter bump touching my own. Okay, ew! I tried to push him or myself away, but his arm tightened around me. My face smashed to his perfect chest. I hate that even after sleeping on it he still smells good.

Due to my problem of morning wood, I moaned when his leg rubbed against my groin. Realizing what I was doing, I panicked and tried to pull away. Again, I didn't budge because Axel is way stronger then me. I moaned again when he moved, rolling onto his back and taking me with him to lay on his chest. I whimpered a little, trying and failing to get away yet again.

I know that this is my last resort and even if he's going to kill me once he lets go, I go for it and bite him as hard as I can.

He threw me off of him almost instantly, making me fall to my side, stiff and blushing madly. He rubbed the bite mark on his neck, cursing. "What the fuck, Roxas! Shit! What was that? Did you _bite _me? Ow!"

I didn't reply. I just got out of bed, hiding my now more then just morning wood erection, and pulled on my shirt. I scurried out of the room and collided with someone halfway down the hallway, sending us both to the ground. He was below me, both of us groaning.

"Sora?" I asked, rubbing my forehead where it had his his.

He was rubbing his forehead, too, saying, "Ow ow ow! What the heck, Roxas! Oh, that's gonna bruise..."

I stood up, happy that my erection had gone down from the pain enough to be hidden in my pants. I helped him up, too, and he winced at the mysterious pain in his arms. I stare at him. He is messed up! He has five circular bruises like someone had grabbed his face, a black eye, his lip is really swollen as well as his cheek which he has one giant bruise on and I noticed that his words were kind of slurred, like he bit his tongue or something.

"What happened to you?" I ask, frowning.

He smiled and said, "I fell."

Okay, I know he's lying. Normally I would just nod and go on with whatever, knowing that Sora will never tell me the truth, but I know that he's just telling me that because it is way obvious that he didn't just fall. I give him a stern look. "Tell me the truth, Sora."

Sora shrugged nonchalantly. He's always been a good actor. "I am telling the truth. Anyway, Namine's been waiting for you to wake up for hours."

I take the bate of the subject change automatically when he mentions Namine. "She has? Really?" Sora nodded and started walking down the stairs. "Um, does she ever talk about me?"

Sora smiled over his shoulder at me and said, "All the time. She likes you, man."

I blushed and stopped walking to absorb the new information. Then I caught up to him, hopping down two stairs at a time. We walked through the living room where Zack was sitting, talking with the girl who had been sitting next to me during the ride.

Sora walked into the kitchen and I followed. The kitchen is amazing. Has the same look as the rest of the house with a counter surrounding the stove and island in an 'L' shape. The counter had three chairs on the opposite side where Kairi, Namine and Riku were sitting, talking to each other. Cloud was cooking at the stove, wearing an apron. An _apron_.

The fridge was one of those absurdly large stainless steel Kenmore's. The cabinet's were painted brown to match the green walls, the tile making up the floor having the design of green ducks flying. The table behind the counter seats was glass with fifteen black chairs around it. I have no idea why he would need so many chairs.

Leon is leaning on one of the counters next to Cloud, the two talking quietly to each other. Cloud looks over when we walk in, smiling. "Hi, Sora. Roxas."

"Slut," Sora said as he passed them. I just nodded to them both. I didn't know that Sora didn't like Cloud. Huh. Sora kissed Namine and Kairi both on the cheeks, making the girls giggle. "Morning, girls. Having fun?"

"Oh, yeah," Kairi smiled. "Cloud's pretty funny. Too bad he's gay. Oh, well. You know what they say; all the good guys or either gay or taken. And he's both. Fooey." She playfully pouted.

Sora grumbled something and looked to me. He said, "What are you doing here, anyway? I mean, not that I don't want you here or anything. Its just weird to see you present for a big three day party."

A party. A three day party. I didn't really want to admit that I hadn't known until really early this morning. I said, "My mom made me come. She wants me and Axel to bond or something and she doesn't really trust him. What are you doing here?"

Sora smiled and said, "Leon invited me out. He probably couldn't stand to go another moment without me, right, Leon?"

Leon snorted and said, "Oh, yeah. That's totally why."

While Sora pretended to be hurt I couldn't help but have that feeling that he was lying again.

Axel walked into the kitchen. He's wearing a pair of black pants with a Nirvana t-shirt and a black and purple checkered flannel. Ugh, I hate purple. Its such an awful color. His converse are on his feet in all their dirty and scuffed up glory. I can't even count how many times my mom has tried to get him to wear another pair of shoes. My teeth were imprinted where I had bit him on his neck and the skin around it was red. I didn't know that I bit him that hard.

When he walked in, glaring at me, he said, "Roxas bit me."

Cloud snorted and Leon shook his head disapprovingly. "You were probably trying to ass rape him. I'd bite you, too."

He _was _trying to butt rape me, darn it! I had a right to bite the jerk! Leon just proved it! Geeze, I swear, Axel is going to be the death of me.

"I was _not_," Axel said indignantly. "He liked it! You should have heard the noises he was making. I mean, damn."

Sora snorted laughter next to me and Cloud dropped the plate he had been preparing. Riku and Kairi were laughing, too. Namine, Axel, Leon, Cloud and myself stayed silent in either Annoyance, embarrassment or shock. Namine chewed on her bottom lip in thought as she stared up at me with her beautiful blue eyes, her perfect face twisted in confusion.

"I'm not gay," I tell her quickly.

Sora snorted again, hitting the counter with his hand. He's laughing so hard that he isn't even laughing anymore. Cloud started to pick up the food and broken glass that was on the floor now, Leon helping him. I swear, Leon is getting too close to him. Cloud isn't paying attention to him, though. He's too busy glaring up at me. I don't want to deal with his cheating problems. Its none of my business if he likes Axel.

"Well," Cloud said once the mess was cleaned up. "Let's eat! Sora, dear, can you go and get Zack?"

Sora grumbled something under his breath that sounded a lot like 'Fuck off cunt' but he went anyway, in search of the man. He beckoned for me to follow, so I did and we both left the kitchen scene behind and walked out into the hallway. Zack was leaning on the railing of the upstairs balcony, talking to the girl who had been sitting next to me during the ride up here.

"Zack," Sora said irritably.

"Sora!" Zack countered in his happy-go-lucky tone.

Sora pursed his lips and said, "You annoy me. Go and eat."

"Well, you entertain me!" Zack shot back happily. "I love you, Sora!" As he skipped past Sora he kissed him on top of his head and continued to skip down the stairs, leaving Sora with a sour face and the girl to follow behind him with a roll of her eyes.

Its rare to see Sora this pissed off, so something had to have happened that made him like this. It obviously has something to do with all of his bruises and stuff. He goes to walk back down the stairs but I grab his wrist to stop him. He winces and I let go quickly, but he doesn't keep walking and instead turns and gives me his attention.

"Sorry," I apologize from touching his obviously hurt wrist. "What happened, Sora? Why are you so mad? What happened to your face?"He shrugs and looks down, avoiding eye contact. I sigh and say, "Liar. Now, _what happened_?"

Sora looked up then. He was giving me such a fierce glare that I involuntarily glared back. "Nothing."

His word was firm and I knew that he still wasn't going to say anything. So, I let it go for now and followed him back to the kitchen.

There was some work going on outside by people that Cloud had hired to set up a stage and bring in two long tables and a truck full of alcohol. He's too rich. It shouldn't even be legal, I swear. When the sun started to set later that night I was finally informed by Sora of what exactly was going to be going on tonight.

"A concert," Sora snorted as we sat on the porch swing in front of the house. I took a drink of my tea, nodding at the new information. He took a drink of his own before saying, "Bullshit. This is a fucking party- damn near a rave. Did you see all the drinks? I mean, shit. It isn't even generic, its all brands like 'Gray Goose' and 'Captain Morgans.' Are you drinking tonight, Roxas?"

I shook my head and looked to Namine who was sitting next to me, in between Sora and myself.

"What about you, Namine?" he asked her.

She shook her head, too, and looked past Sora to Kairi who was sitting on the far end, texting on her iPhone. She asked her, "Are you, Kairi?"

She looked up at her and grinned, saying, "Fuck yeah! I mean, hello? Big party! Wooh!" She jumped up and fist pumped, skipping away out into the snow. Her boots made deep tracks in it. She shouted to the man in the snow plow, saying, "Party! Wooooh!"

Riku came out from the house. He rolled his eyes and sat next to Sora. Too close to Sora. I'll kill him.

Sora snorted and looked to me, rolling his eyes. I smiled back at him and he jerked his chin to Namine, putting his arm behind her. "_Sooo_, what do you plan to do tonight, Nami?" She shrugged and he supplied, "How about Roxas?"

I choked on my tea and spit it out into my hand. Namine blushed and shook her head furiously, saying, "No! I um... No... Its just... Its not that I don't like you Roxas, I do, but- I mean-! Oh, crap, um... I have to go pee. Excuse me!"

When she left back into the house, Sora smirked at he with his eyebrows arched. "Hey, maybe you'll finally lose your virginity, Rox!" He slapped me hard on my back and stood up. "I have to go pee, too. Come on, Roxas."

Sora's lying, for the record. He just wants to leave. So, I get up with him and follow him into the house. We push past the forming mass of bodies in the down stairs area and walk up the stairs. Sora leads me to the room he's sharing with Leon and closes the door behind us, sighing.

"I swear to god, Riku wants my dick," he says.

I snort and sit on the bed. Sora hops over to the window and throws it open, looking down at the work men who are still setting up the stage. This is ridiculous. How can someone pay for all of this crap? I mean, geeze!

"Clouds a whore," Sora said in a sing-song voice for everyone outside to hear.

I ask him, "Why do you hate Cloud so much?"

Sora snorted and closed the window and pulled the curtains closed. "Why would I _not _hate Cloud?" He came and sat down next to me, looking at his nails. "I've always disliked him, but he 'initiated' me or whatever and I've hated him ever since."

I arch my eyebrows. "What did he do?"

Sora looked at me and rolled his eyes as he thought of the story with a sigh. "He pulled a David Blaine."

I furrow my brow at him. "Whats that?"

He waved his hand dismissively and said, "Oh, you don't wanna know. It's gross. Point is, he's an asshole. I wish he would get a taste of his own medicine!" A silence passed through us and I stared at Sora, waiting for the light bulb to go off over his head as he thought. Finally, he said, "Hey... We could do that! We should prank him. Hey, that's a good idea! Great job, Sora!"

I have to say, it's a pretty intriguing situation. Prank Cloud... He deserves it, and it's harmless. So, why not?

I say, "That _is_ a good idea. But how?"

Sora hummed thoughtfully and after a moment shrugged and said, "Don't know. I'll have to think about it. Hey, what time is it?"

I look at the clock on my phone. "Ten forty eight."

Sora nodded and kicked his feet lightly. He laid back and looked up at the ceiling, examining a strand of hair and chewing on the index nail of his free hand. He said, "Their supposed to start playing music at midnight. What 're we gonna do till then?"

It was only five minutes later that we were all generating from making snow angels to throwing snow balls. Finally, a little over an hour later, there wasn't enough room to keep up with the games unless we wanted to go closer to the woods for it (Which none of us wanted to do) because of all the people who were coming. So we all went back inside and found out that the band was going to start playing soon.

Sora grabbed onto my hand and pushed rather rudely through the crowd, leaving Namine, Sora and Kairi in the kitchen where we had walked in. He pushed this guy out of the, grunting, "Move."

The guy turned around and took Sora's free hand to make him look at him. He has wolf bites, studs decorating the tasteless piercings, and longish black hair that does a light swoop. He's tall, towering over Sora and myself at six feet, and is obviously emo. His band shirt is a blob of blue swirls and bloody teddy bears with the name of a band that I've never heard of and I'm sure he's never listened to. A scene girl with way too much makeup, big teased and tangled hair that looks like a mix between a rats nest and a brain tumor, and too tight and colorful clothes is practically hanging on him. They both go to our school. I think their seniors?

"Watch where your going, man!" the boy shouted at him. Then he eyes blinked in realization of who he was talking to and he immediately let go. "Whoa, hey, Sora. Um, where's your brother? Not around, is he...?" He looked around as if Leon was going to pop out of nowhere and punch the life out of him.

Sora snarled. He's always hated how afraid people were of Leon. How they were so afraid of him that he had to work really hard to get friends and people refused to fight with him or argue back, a lot automatically backing off from the situation, like this guy, when he realize that it was Sora. The two have actually been given a nickname as the 'Horrid Leonhart Brothers.' I think all of that is what built up Sora's bipolar personality, like how he'll be happy and bubbly towards people he wants to be friends with and a dick to everyone else in hopes of a fight. It can't be healthy.

Sora got close to the guy and I noticed that the girl hid slightly behind him. Sora had to look up to look into his eyes, and after searching the sky scraper and meeting the blue sky above, he said, "Why the fuck does it matter? You scared of me, shit face?"

The guy went on defensive, but said shortly, "Whatever. Let's go, Julia."

That made Sora's snarl grow. When the two retreated into the crowd, he shouted out after him, "Don't walk away from me, dammit! Get back here!" He paused a moment, watching them disappear. "_Fight me, dammit!_"

When he realized that the shouting and cursing wasn't going to get the prospect of a fight back, Sora huffed and grabbed onto my hand again, pushing more aggressively through the crowd. Now people knew to get out of the way, in fear of the 'Horrid Leonhart Brothers.'

By eleven, Sora's taking shots like there's no tomorrow. I count them. One... Two... five... ten... He's more then tipsy by the time the first band starts playing.

I can hear their music from the room we're all huddled in where Kairi brought up a bottle of vodka. While their all drinking, Namine and I sit, sober, watching them curiously. I don't understand how they can drink so much. I don't understand how they can drink at all, how bad it all is for them. Its gross, too, what it does to you. Makes you throw up, act a fool...

"There's no way in hell I'd do that," Kairi giggled madly, her words slightly slurred. "I mean, in front of that big crowd? No, thanks!"

Sora laughed and Riku bumped his shoulder with hers. "Come on," he pushed. "Do it! It'll be great. Good memories!"

"If we can remember this in the morning," Sora said and they all snorted laughter. "Hey, lets go find Leon. Come on, Roxas!"

Before I can protest, Sora pulls me up and we're out of the room. We looked over the balcony and find that there's at least a hundred people in the front room alone. Sora's off balance and has to use me for support when we descend the stairs and push out into the ever growing crowd.

"Move!" Sora commanded. "Hello, VIP coming through! Oh, there's Leon! Come one!"

He's leading me again, falling into people and tripping, but never falling to the ground due to his luck. Leon is standing by the girl, a drink in hand, talking to some girl. He seems really into the conversation, too, smiling while the girl laughs and says something. We're almost to them when the girl reaches up and puts her hand on the back of Leon's head, pulling him into a kiss.

I guess it wouldn't be so bad if he just pulled away, told her that he was taken, that he didn't like her. But, no. He kisses back. Sora's in so much shock that he doesn't even have anything to say, which is a first. Leon sees us out of the corner of his eye and looks up, then breaks the kiss and tries to say something, but the music outside from the band is hooked up to speakers inside so its too loud to hear him. Sora just snarls at him and grabs my hand, leading me into the kitchen. I swear, he's been leading me all night.

The kitchen is relatively empty. Axel is sitting at the table with some girl, smiling and playing with his cup that's filled with a brown liquid. He has her arm around her, smiling and talking to her as she drew circles on his chest. The girl is just gross. She has a big nose with a infected studded piercing and she's really sloppy, probably from all the drinking. She's doing one of those awful hair bumps. Not one of the hair sprayed poofs, but those god awful brain tumor umbrella like ones that you can see the tangled and teased hair through, making it look like a dang rats nest. She's kind of chubby, too. Again, probably from all the drinking.

When we walk in, he takes his arm away from her and motions for me to come to him. Um, no thanks. I shake my head, but he keeps beckoning me closer. I don't trust him, so approach the table slowly, Sora following right behind me.

"Yeah?" I asked, unsure. He's pretty scary.

The girls glaring at me, like I was the one who ruined her chances with Axel. Sora starts laughing hysterically, pointing at her, and now she's glaring at him.

"Come sit next to me," he says with a smile.

_No. No. No._ The alarm goes off in my head and I can't help but feel like this is a trap. Even though I know this can't end good, I find myself sitting down. _Proceed with caution!_

When I sit down, the girl lets out a noise that's a mix of annoyance and disgust and gets up. She says something in her surprisingly manly voice, something about how she knew that Cloud was right, and she left the kitchen. Sora stops laughing when she's gone and starts crying hysterically at the counter next to some guy who was talking to Cloud. Cloud, who was cooking something, rolled his eyes and went back to work. The guy starts comforting Sora, so I don't feel all too bad about not getting up.

Axel's still smiling at me and I feel really uncomfortable when I sit down. When I feel his arm go over the back of my chair, around me, I stiffen and bite the inside of my cheek. He smells differently then he usually does, I notice when he leans into me. Like Old Spice mixed with with something... It seems familiar. After another moment of thought, I realize what it is. He's been smoking weed! Oh my good_ness_!

Axel's getting too close to me. His lips are right by my ear so he can say something, which I understand because the musics loud even in here, but it makes me uncomfortable to no end. His breath is hot against my cheek when he speaks, "Are you having fun?"

I crinkle my nose. "Not really..."

I feel his smile against my cheek now, his lips almost touching my skin. This is weird. I'm gonna puke. Its all too much to take in. "Why not?"

My mind goes back to what Sora told me. _Axel _likes _you. Like, like likes you. _It's been absurd, the whole thought. But... the way he's been acting. The way he held me in the car. How he touche me this morning when he was awake! And, now, its like he's going to kiss me. Its weird. Its bad it... its...!

Oh, god, its true!

I pull away and say, as loudly as I can in a speaking voice, "I don't do any of this stuff. Excuse me..."

I stand up and he grabs my hand. Now he's frowning up at me, his eyebrows nearly drawn together in confusion. His eyes are shining brightly from the lights just above us and I see myself reflected in them. I look just as confused.

"Where are you going?" he asks.

It takes me a moment to register what he's saying. I shake my head and say shortly, "Away." Then I turn and take Sora's hand to lead him out. He hooks his arm with the boy he was talking too and the boy follows eagerly as we walk out of the kitchen. I don't know how many more times I can brave this crowd. I have to vomit. My face is burning red. But, why? Why would I feel like this over Axel? God, I'm so confused! I need fresh air.

We walk out onto the porch, into the cold night air. I can barley hear myself think. I let go of Sora and lean over the railing for a moment, next to a girl with bleached blonde hair and a nose piercing who's smoking. My afternoon breakfast is threatening to come back up, so I take deep breaths and calm myself back down. I didn't know that Sora and the boy were kissing until I looked back up and saw them just going at it, right there in front of everybody. The guy is running his hands up Sora's hips and I get nauseous again. While I know that Sora's making a bad choice, that he's going to regret this in the morning, I can't find my voice.

"Hey, Roxas." I turn to see Kairi and Namine's smiling faces. their coming up the short steps and up onto the porch. Namine almost looks like an angel because of the way she glows. The snow and idiotic teenagers as her background make her look ten times better in her classy white sun dress that goes to her ankles and puffy white jacket. The white fir trimming the coat is as white as the few pieces of clean snow left in the yard, the same for her fir boots. "What are you doing right now?"

I stare at her for a moment before looking to Sora as if that was the answer. That makes her frown and Kairi says, "Oh. That's not fun. He does that all the time, so, don't worry. Do you want to come with us?"

I don't even think about it. It's almost automatic how I nodded and followed them back down the steps and into yet another crowd of bodies. The band up on stage blows to say the least, but everyone's cheering madly as the three guys and one girl on stage jump around with their dreadlocks and mow hawks in multiple colors and skimpy clothes with heeled boots. Their just screaming, really, and hitting and strumming things. I don't understand this generation and their love for 'Screamo' music. Its all crap to me.

On the other side of the house, past the crowd and near the forest that surrounds us, is a little pond with a white bridge going over it. That's where the two girls lead me. The moonlight bounces off the thick layer of ice that covers the pond. I stand there a moment, silent as the girls talk. Then Kairi's phone goes off and she looks at the screen, at the text message she'd received.

"OH EM GEE!" she says loudly, gasping. "Oh my geezus, I have to go. Excuse me!"

She runs off in the direction of the house, leaving me and Namine alone. Now its completely silent, neither of us knowing what to say.

I look up at her while she's looking down, then look down when she looks up at me. Then we both look up at the same time and I meet her eyes. She's so incredibly beautiful that it shouldn't even be legal. I watch her, watch the blush that slowly creeps up on her, then watch as she looks back down to the pond and fidgets slightly.

"_So_," I say, breaking the silence.

"So..." she mimics, looking back up. Well, this is awkward.

"Well, um-"

"I kinda wanted to tell you-!"

We both spoke at the same time and silence at the same time. I insists that she speaks because, really, I have no idea what I was going to say. She blushes more, looking down at her boots and the impressions they made in the untouched snow of the bridge.

"I just wanted to say, that, um... Its really cool to have you out of here..."

I raise my eyebrows at the words. Its cool to have me out here? Here I was, expecting a love confession, and get a 'good to see you, pal!' This sucks! Ugh! Okay, I know that at first I didn't really like her, I know that I said I was only into redheads, but I like Namine. I like her a lot.

The music in the back changes and I know that another band went up to play when a female's voice starts floating from the speakers. I look back to the crowd that's cheering louder now, probably happy the awful band before was finally done playing. This takes my mind of Namine for a moment, but when I hear her sigh and look back to see her leaning on the railing.

"I'm not good with words," she sighed again, looking up at me a moment before looking back down at the glistening ice of the pond. "I just... Kairi says that I have to tell you, so, here it is..."

I find myself leaning over the rail, too, staring at her intently as I waited for the next words to come. I saw her start to move her lips and my stomach churned. She's about to form those words, those words that I've been waiting for. I know it.

"Roxas." She takes a breathe and looks up at me, meeting my eyes with determination in her own. "I-I kind of, sort of... Like you."

I bite the inside of my cheek, hard to where I start to taste blood, and bury my face in my hands. What do I say? No ones ever said anything like this before to me. I look up at her a moment. She's waiting for me to say something. I groan lightly and cover my face again. I like her. I _like _her. So, why's it so hard to tell her? Why can't I form the words?

Its Axel. He's messing with my mind. He likes me, she likes me, what's going on? I look up at Namine again when she says quickly, "Um- its okay if you don't like me, because..."

I'm not really listening to her. I'm staring up at her, at her beautiful, perfect, panic stricken face as she tries to excuse herself. She talks to much, I realize, and its cute. But, I don't need it right now.

"-t doesn't matter, so-!"

I quickly silence her by pressing my lips to her own.

**~o~**

***Gasp* What the heck is this? This ain't yaoi! Why, its... its... its poppycock! :O**

**Okay, guys, I'm really sorry this took so long. My excuse? I've been busy! I started school and I haven't been home (At my computer) much because I have friends this year that I actually like (Instead of those 'popular' dweebs I used to surround myself with) and actually go places and WOW! Its crazy I know and I'm sorry. :C I know I need to update I Love You, Brother! too but I'm only halfway through the chapter and ugh its all so much hell. :/**

**Guys! 'Don't Ask Don't Tell' has been revoked in the military, meaning gays can openly serve in the military now! Isn't that great? That whole 'No Gays Allowed' thing was ridiculous, if you ask me. I mean, crap.**

**Review, guys. It makes me want to write and update faster. ^^**

**REVIEWWWWWWW :O**


	9. Kissing

**~o~ Chapter Nine already? :O Eeew, and it starts out with a hetero kiss? Ugh, I'm starting to hate myself for how long its taking to get some AkuRoku in. :/ But, the RoxNam was needed, so don't shoot me! ~o~**

I'm Roxas Richards and I'm kissing the girl of my dreams.

Its my first kiss so its more then bad, but as I pull Namine closer and our kiss deepens, I'm starting to feel like it doesn't matter how bad I am because she makes up for both of us.

She runs her tongue along my bottom lip which I assume means that she wants me to open my mouth. I comply, only slightly reluctant, and she slips her tongue inside. I know that it should be gross, having some other person's tongue inside my mouth, but it isn't. She's sweet. She tastes like bubblegum and vanilla. I like it. I like it a lot.

Though I wish we could go forever, we have to break for air. When we do, I realize that this is going way to fast. My first kiss turned into a make out session... Is that normal? Is that how it usually happens? I am so inexperienced, it isn't even funny. I'm fifteen years old and I'm just now having my first kiss! Gosh, this is bad. And, does this mean Namine's my girlfriend? Because I've never had a girlfriend. Kisses mean a relationship, right?

Namine steps forward and leans her head on my chest with a content sight. She's so cute.

"This is nice," she says in a hushed voice, putting her arms around me. I take the hint and put my own around her, holding her close. I hadn't realized how cold it was until right now.

"So um," I dare to say, not knowing what Namine will say. "Does this mean we're going out?"

She smiled and I felt it against my chest. She's so warm. "Yeah, I guess... Unless you don't want to, because-."

"No, I do," I save quickly. "Do you?"

"Of course!" She pulls away and takes both of my hands in her own warm ones, holding the in between our chests. "I really, really like you, Roxas."

Its funny how just ten minutes ago I was freaking out about my discovery of Axel's feelings and watching Sora make out with some guy. Wait... Sora! Oh, crap, that was bad! How could I leave him? Gosh, I gotta get back.

"I gotta go get Sora," I say, trying to look to the porch. The crowd is too big for me to see.

Namine nods and lets go of one of my hands. We walk back and push through the crowd again. It smells. Its a mix of B.O, weed, alcohol and vomit. Too gross. I push some guy out of my way (I've been around Sora too much) and after four minutes of struggle, I get to the porch. Sora's gone. Why can't he just stay put? I have to go into the house, and when I do, I know where Sora is automatically. In the middle of the crowd is a hole. The people around are shouting and cheering and someone turned the inside speakers off so that they could hear the fight.

"Yeah, run away like a pussy bitch!" I hear Sora shout.

There's another part in the crowd and I see a boy, around seventeen and five foot eight, limping out of the crowd with help from one of his friends. He is messed up. Two black eyes, one already swollen and covering his entire left eye, his lip swollen and bleeding, his nose spewing blood all over the wooden floor. Clouds gonna have to clean that up.

The crowd disperses and the music is turned back up. I walk over to Sora who's leaning against the wall, drinking water out of a red plastic cup with a straw. The guy he was kissing earlier is next to him, saying something close to his ear. He's totally Sora's type; he's tall with long black hair and deep red eyes. Their obviously contacts, but they look so real. I guess he'd be considered emo, maybe punk, but he's wearing tight black pants and a red v-neck t-shirt with a black jacket that has shiny black fir trim. He's wearing boots, black Doc Martins, and a long Wicca necklace. Sora's always liked guys like this, ironically the opposite of Leon.

Sora looks to me and smiles, waving me over. He's always giddy after a fight. "Hey, Roxas!" When he sees our conjoined hands, he puts on a look of shock and partially covers his mouth. "Are you guys going out? Its about time! Oh, wait, but what about Axel? Oh my, you are such a player! Well, that's nice. Me and Vincent are going to go upstairs now. Buh Bye!"

He turns and leaves up the stairs before I can say anything.

"Wait, what?" I say in disbelief. He just walked away from me! The bastard!

Namine giggles and looks up to me, saying, "I should go find Kairi. I'll see you in a bit, Roxas." She kisses me and then walks away, leaving me all alone.

Well, not completely alone because Axel's walking towards me angrily.

"What the fuck?" he says in annoyance. What did I do? Crap! I really wish there wasn't fighting and confrontations every time I turn around. "When the fuck did you get with that Thompson bitch?"

Thompson. Isn't that Namine's last name? I ignore the fact that he called her a bitch and say, "Just now. Why do you care?"

Axel's snarling lightly, an expression that doesn't do well for his normally sneering and laughing face. I know he's mad; he's _really _mad. I haven't seen him this mad since the first time I met him and he found out that our parents were getting married, that seven years ago. I guess he was just unhappy back then in general, though. He was a pretty depressing ten year old.

"Because she's a whore!" he says.

I'm snarling now, glaring up at him. "No, she's not! Don't talk about her like that, Axel."

Axel smirked and shrugged. He looks like he's already won. "Hey, its true," he says, holding his hands up defensively. "I wonder if there's anyone at this party who _hasn't _slept with Namine? Probably not at the rate she's going. You know, she's had like, five abortions. Yeah. That's why Kaizi or whatever her name is hasn't taken her out until recently. Because Namine'll open her legs for _anyone._"

"That's not true," I say. I'm shouting now. "She's not like that, dick, and you know it!"

But then it dawns on me. When I stare up at Axel's triumphant expression, I realize that, in reality, I don't know Namine at all. She _could _be a whore for all I know. That very well _could _be the reason I never saw her until just recently. She was a really good kisser, which means she has experience... But that doesn't mean she's a whore, does it? It shouldn't. A lot of people who can kiss well aren't whores, right?

I bite the inside of my cheek in thought and look down at my shoes. My brow is furrowed and I know that Axel knows what I'm thinking. He sets a hand on my shoulder. His smirk is gone and replaced with a solemn expression as he says, "Hey. I'm sorry you had your first kiss with a whore."

I put on a face of idiocy and slap his hand away. "Oh my god!" This one requires cussing. "You are such an insufferable asshole!"

I walk past him and he turns, shouting after me, "Does this mean sleeping together is out?"

I flipped him off and walked up the stairs, hiding in our room.

**~o~**

The next day, I woke up alone. I don't remember Axel coming in last night and I don't care because he's a stupid jerk who can drop dead for all I care. I leave the room and take a shower before brushing my teeth and getting dressed. Then I find Sora and we lock ourselves in his room for a few hours, just talking. Sora leaves and I go get something to eat down in the kitchen. By then people are already starting to arrive. I still don't see Axel. Maybe he's mad at me for last night? A while after, I meet up with Namine and we both go up to my room to snuggle and watch a movie. Then she leaves to be with her sister. Now the party has been on for about an hour. I still stay in my room, though, wanting to keep away from the party as long as possible. But the boredom becomes unbearable.

I left the room around two hours later to look for Sora, having to talk to _someone _to get my pent up emotions out. When I walk out, I see two people laying on the floor. One is Cloud, the other some guy I don't know who's giggling and sipping from a red plastic cup with a permanent marker in his hand. He's ready to do some real damage, turning the passed out Cloud onto his back. I seemed to have startled him, and when he sees me, he frowns uncertainly and stands up. How can he just leave his host like that? Instead of leaving him, too, I sigh and go to kneel next to him. Shaking him isn't working, so I do the next thing that comes to mind and lift him up. He's heavy! I throw one arm around my shoulders and, because its the closest room, I open the door to my room and drag. It's such a relief to get his weight off of me. I make sure to close the door when I leave because I'd feel really bad if that guy really did draw on him.

"That was nice of you."

I put my hand over my heart and whip around quickly. "You scared me!"

"I can tell," Axel smirked. "I thought you hated Cloud. Why would you help him like that?"

"Well," I start off in a superior tone, sticking my nose slightly in the air. "Unlike _some _people, I'm actually nice and have this little thing called a _conscience_. Said conscience doesn't let me ignore people who are in trouble, no matter how much I hate them."

Axel made a fake gasp and put his hand to his chest. "But that's... Being nice! Blasphemy!"

I let out a small laugh, but I'm still mad at Axel, so I try to keep our conversation short and ask, "Do you know where Sora is?"

Axel snorted and looked over the railing. "Well, there's no fight going on... I think he went into the room he and Leon are sharing. Hey, there's Leon! Hi, Leon." He waved and I looked to see Leon flipping him off. "Oh, he loves me." He looked at me now, leaning against the railing. "So, you mad?"

For a brief second I had forgotten that I was, in fact, mad at him. At the remembrance, I scowl at him and say, "You called my girlfriend a slut. Of _course I'm_ mad at you."

He put his hand up in a mock 'stop.' "No, I called her a _whore._ She's your girlfriend? When did this happen?"

I'm not really excited about talking about my love life with Axel, so I say shortly, "A little while ago."

"Oh," he nods. "On that bridge, right?"

I furrow my brow. "Yeah. Did you see us?"

He shakes his head and hums in thought. "Does she still taste like gum? Because, earlier she did. I liked it, though. It was... Nice." His emerald eyes met mine and narrowed. "I told you she was a slut."

It takes me a moment to register what he's saying. He kissed her. He _kissed _her. All that crap about him liking me was just a lie, I just tricked myself into doing it. This whole time he was just being a jerk, not flirting with me in his own stupid way. He's just been toying with me, trying to make my life miserable. My mind goes back to the night I went to that party with him, when he locked me in his van crying because I realized how much he hated me. How much he _hates _me. I don't know why he would hate me so much, though. Why would he want me to be unhappy? What does he have against me?

I feel a pang of incredible sadness and tears sting my eyes. I've always been an easy crier. I can barley choke out, "Why are you such an ass?" Then I was on the ground, crying into my hands, just like Cloud had been doing earlier. God, I feel pathetic crying over this.

I hear Axel curse but don't really register it. Through my cry, I hear the band change and a neo metal group start. Axel sits next to me and pats my back awkwardly, apologizing in the odd Axel way which consists of, 'Hey, its not my fault she kissed me,' and, 'Your girlfriend isn't a slut because of me.' Well, at least he's trying. This is the nicest he's been to me in a non set up way in years. But, no matter what he says (Not that any of its helping), I can't stop crying. The tears just keep coming, and now, I think twenty minutes later, I'm still crying and sobbing hysterically. I can't breath, so I'm gasping for breath into my legs where I've hidden my face from Axel because I don't want him to see me like this as it is.

"Do you have like, an unlimited supply of tears?" he asks me irritably. I sob loudly and shake my head. "Okay, well, I'm gonna go get you some tissue. Be right back."

When he leaves, my crying slows down. His presence just kept it coming, he didn't really help at all. By the time he gets back I'm able to wipe the tears away and my face be clear for a moment before more tears come out. I take a big wad of toilet paper from his hands and dry off my face, fanning it with my hand and taking deep breaths to make the tears stop. Then I blow my nose rather loudly and look down at my hands.

"What was that about?" Axel questions. He's obviously trying to be nice, but his tone still has a bite to it. "I mean, is it 'cause of what I said or are you just that much of a baby?"

Instead of answering his questions, I ask one of my own and say, "Why do you hate me so much?"

That seems to catch him off guard. He stares at me a moment, wide eyed, then looks down and searches the floor for the answer. When he doesn't find it, he looks over to the stairs. Some girl is coming up, but he ignores her and then returns his gaze on me.

"I don't," he says after a moment of our eyes locking. He sets his hand on top of mine and I can't help but notice how warm they are. "Roxas, I-."

"Axel~!" He's tackled over by the girl. "Oh, Axel! I've missed you so much!" She's trying to kiss him but he keeps her at bay, holding his arms out stiffly to keep her from reaching her goal. "God! Just let me love you!"

He finally pushes her off and jumps to his feet, running to our room and slamming the door behind him. By the way she's trying to open the door with no avail, it must be locked. She sighs and puts her hands on her hips before turning to me.

She's beautiful. Freaking stunning. She has blonde hair, like Namine's but almost golden in the light, that separates into two strands that go back off her head. Her eyes are a deep, bright blue that sparkle with brilliance and glow in her pale white skin. Her features are at perfect points, her eyebrows styled to make her look angry. The fact that she actually _is _angry affects them dramatically. She really pulls the angry look off.

"What the fuck was that?" she snarled at me. Her voice is just as sharp as her canines which are shining white in the upstairs lights. I don't know what to say and my throat still hurts from all the crying, so I just nod dumbly. "God dammit, your his brother, aren't you?"

I have to speak on that. I meet her glare daringly. "He isn't my freaking brother. Why does everybody ask that? I mean, do we _look _alike? No. And, no, I don't know what that was. Maybe if you weren't such a bitch, he'd like you."

But it _isn't _me speaking. It's Sora, leaning on the door frame to his and Leon's room, mocking me. He's half naked in his boxer-briefs (Dora the Explorer? They make them in this size?) and a cardigan that I recognize as Leon's. He sounds almost exactly like me when I take on that tone, its kind of aggravating.

"Fuck off, Sora," she hisses in his direction. Then she turns back on me and demands, "Is your name Roxas? You the kid who stole him from me? 'Cause I'll cut you! That's _my _man, y'hear?"

Now Sora takes on a country slang and sways his hips slightly. "Oh, o'course I hear, darlin'! You can have him 'cause, as Roxas's best durn friend, I can assure you that he ain't interested in no dick. Bye bye, now!" He steps out and grabs my arm, pulling me into the room. Slamming the door behind us and briskly locking it, Sora sighs and says, "That was a close one."

What was? What was a close one? "Who was that?"

"Larxene," Sora says in a matter-of-fact tone. When I stare at him, he sighs and says, "She's an ex of Axel's. Completely in love with him for some reason and is always following him and trying to fuck him and shit. It's just great."

He sits on the bed next to the guy, Vincent, who's asleep. "Anyway," he goes on. "She's just this crazy stalker chick. She hates you 'cause Axel- Cloud knows about Axel liking you if you don't already know that- likes you."

I snort and sit next to him, looking down at my hands. "Axel doesn't like me."

"What?" Sora frowns at me and brushes the hair from my face. "Of course he does. You've seen the way he's been acting! Were you crying? Are you okay, sweetie?"

My eyes sting with the way too familiar feeling of tears but I bite them down. I've had enough crying for the day. "I'm fine. He uh... Kissed Namine. Today."

Sora's frown grows and he scoots closer to me so that he can lean his head on my shoulder. "I'm sorry, dear. I don't know, maybe I should have told you this earlier but, Namine kinda has a record for being a whore."

"So I've heard," I sigh.

"But, Roxas..." Sora's looking up at me now. His head is still on my shoulder while he does it, his eyes shining in the lamp light.

"What?"

"Tell me. Are you upset because Namine kissed Axel, or because _Axel _kissed Namine?"

I furrow my brow. "What?"

Sora sighs as if its the most obvious thing in the world. "I mean are you getting feelings for Axel?"

I blush and cover my face quickly. "No. Absolutely not! That's just... that's gross! He's _Axel_! And I'm straight! That's... Not even possible. I mean, crap!"

Sora pulled away from me and gave me a sly smile. His smile suggests that he knows something that I don't, a smile that sees right through me to something. But, what? "A lot of protest, Roxas. He he, maybe we're on the same team after all?" That made me blush more. I just stared at him without saying anything, so Sora went on, "You should be prideful about it. You know what you should do? Go in that damn crowd downstairs and shout right in his face 'I'm bisexual!' And then kiss him. I bet he doesn't protest."

I find my voice. "No way! I'm going out with Namine..."

Sora rolled his eyes and picked at his nails. "I need to cut my nails... Please. Namine is such a, without a better term, _slut_. It wouldn't surprise me if she made out with ten other guys tonight. But, she does like you, at least that what she says. And you obviously like her... Hmm... Ooh, I just love relationship drama." He puts his hands on my knees and looks me right in my eyes. "You have to break up with her. That poor angel. She doesn't need another guy just playing with her while he struggles with his feelings for someone else."

I push his hands away and can't keep the glare from my face. "Okay, I'm not struggling with feelings for someone else. And I'm not freaking playing with her. So, stop."

"Mmh." Sora sighs and starts examining his nails. "Totally, bro. 'Cause going out with a girl who you subconsciously don't like and having second thoughts about a relationship already is totally okay and its completely fine and not wrong at all to be questioning your sexuality and attraction to your step brother. Not playing with her at all."

I grit my teeth. "I'm not playing with her, Sora. That's freaking stupid. I'm not questioning my sexuality, either." He raises his eyebrows at me and I let out a defeated sigh. "Okay, maybe I'm a little bi-curious, but that doesn't mean anything. And I'm definitely not into Axel, okay?"

Sora rubs his temples in annoyance, letting out another sigh. "You didn't deny second guessing the relationship."

"That, too."

"Or subconsciously not liking her."

"Sora. Really?" I shake my head and lay down on my side, using my hand for support. My eyes are burning and all the drama mixed with the fighting mixed with the crying has drained me. "I don't want to sleep with Axel tonight..."

Sora arches his eyebrows, surprised. "You guys were sleeping in the same bed?" I furrow my brow and nod. "Oh my god! Going fast much? Well, you can crash here tonight 'cause Leon sure as hell ain't sleeping in my bed. I got fresh blankets and everything 'cause of all the sem-."

"No." I put up my hands to stop him. "Just, no. Please. Please, Sora. No sex talk."

He laughs and lays next to me, leaving the smile on his face. He sighs miserably and pouts. "Leon hates me right now."

I snort. "I wonder why? Oh, maybe its all the kissing and cheating you were doing!"

Sora laughs and shakes his head. "Whatever! It wasn't that bad. Its not like I was rubbing it in his face. And, hell, he kissed that girl first!"

I wave my hand dismissively. There's noise from outside the door and then a knock. Sora makes his awful 'mah' sound to see them in and the door opens to Rufus. He leans on the door frame with a sigh. "Your brother is picking a fight with Vincent. You should probably do something about that."

Outside in the hallway was a large crowd of people. Sora pushes through, leaving me alone at the edge because I've never been able to brace against a crowd well. I stand, annoyed, when two guys on the outskirts turn their attention on me.

The first one is a little taller then me with black hair with bangs that fall just above his eyebrows and the back spiked up slightly. His skin is tan, but tan from being out in the sun too often, and he has spiked snake bites. He has double zero spiked gauges and big, light brown eyes. Sunglasses perch on the top of his head, the black and red checkered design matching his black skinny jeans, red t-shirt, black cardigan and the red and white All Stars on his feet. "Hey." His voice is deep and strangely attractive. "Your Heartbreaker!"

"Huh?" I furrow my brow.

His friend is as tall as Axel. He's black with a frowhawk and has gray contacts that freak me out. He has his tongue pierced and has a blue stud in his nose, his eyebrow double pierced. His style is different from his friends with a blue DC Shoes shirt and baggy dark jean pants. He's not wearing a jacket or normal shoes, but instead flip flops. "Yeah! Your the one who made that guy cry!"

"What?" I'm completely confused at this point. Now a girl turns around. I recognize her as the girl I was sitting next to on the drive over here. She's really pretty, now that I see her in the light. Her hair is short and jet black, the left side of her bangs twisted and pined to the side with a rainbow and a bunny clip. Her eyes are a darker blue and she has long eyelashes with clumped mascara making them longer. Here eyeshadow is done out in an arched rainbow and the right side has black cheetah spots going down to her cheek bone. She has on a white tank top with a hot pink jacket and a matching short pink skirt. Her leggings are white and the same color pink and go up to her thighs in stripes. The shoes on her feet are pure white Toms. She's completely matching, right down to the rainbow necklace with a smiling face resting just above her cleavage.

"You made Axel cry," she informed me with a light smile. She's wearing a shimmering pink lip gloss. "After he drank a bit, of course."

"Oh." While I can't see Axel crying over _anything_, I know that alcohol can really change a person and bring things out. The fact that Axel would cry over me gives me a shamefully nice feeling in my stomach. God, I'm a terrible person. "That makes sense..."

She put her hand out for me to shake and I took it. Her hands are soft and warm against the cold of my own. "I'm Xion Strife. Cloud's younger sister." Sister? _Sister? _She looks nothing like him! Not even remotely! No, they both have blue eyes. That's it. She must know what I'm thinking because she giggles and says, "I'm adopted."

"Oh," I nod, trying to keep the shock from my face. "Erm, it's nice to meet you. I'm Roxas."

"I know," she smiles. She has the whitest, straightest teeth. "Cloud's talked about you before."

I give a suspicious look and purse my lips. "What does he say?"

She shrugs and studies her zebra striped acrylic nails. "Nothing bad, really. He just sulks about how you took his man a lot. Says you remind him of him. Stupid shit. I don't know, he's stupid."

His man. I don't even have to ask to know that she's talking about Axel. Xion smiles and tilts her head to the side as she studies me. "Well. You sure are small. Kinda look like Sora. Cloud was right." She smiles at me now and I see that she has dimples. Then she looks past me to someone in the crowd below. "Mmh. It was nice meeting you, Roxas, but I have to go."

She bids me good night and leaves, walking down the stairs and disappearing. Now the crowd around me is dispersing and I assume the fight or whatever happened has ended. There's no sign of Sora, Vincent or Leon so I shrug it off and go to my room.

Axel's already there and, true to Xion's word, he had been crying. Hell, he's _still _crying, his face buried into one of the pillows. There's a bunch of empty Four Loko glass bottles on the floor next to his side of the bed. I sigh and walk over, nudging Axel, uncaring. "Hey. Why are you crying?"

He looks up at me for a moment with red eyes and he's sniffling. Then he buries his face again and wipes his eyes off with the pillow sheet cover. "Your such an asshole!"

"Me?" I raise an eyebrow and sit down next to him. I'm tired and I really don't feel like dealing with this, but I can't just leave him like this. "And how is that?"

His words are broken off with sobs and his words are slurred horribly. "You- I- fi-fi-finally tell you how I feel and- You fucking _denied_- me- like I was some cheap _whore_!"

Is it wrong that I feel superior right now? All these years I've been living with Axel and I've just been the stupid little stepbrother who he can make cry at any time and control with blackmail and force. Now I have him crying over me? I like it. This control is freaking awesome. I smirk to myself and pat him on the back. I like the way he leans into my touch. "Just go to sleep, Axel." When he does, I realize something very fatal. Fatal for him, at least.

I'm in complete control. The shock takes a moment to reside and as I lean back onto my hands, eyes staring down at him.

I win.

**~o~**

**Holy crap guys did shit go down in this chapter. No, not really, imma just try and hype it up like it was epic. :P**

**I hope you guys liked it. Uum, I know, teenage drinking? Disgusting! I don't know, I don't find it that bad. :/ But maybe that's just me.**

**Review, guys. Tell me what you think about this chapter. :)**

**See you guys soon! **


	10. Discovering

**~o~ Chapter ten *Enter Holy Music Here* **

**Okay, so this is a milestone. The tenth chapter of Brotherly Bonding. I want to take this time before the chapter starts to thank my loyal readers and thank everyone that has reviewed this story. I really appreciate it. Whenever I upload a chapter I keep checking to see if I have any reviews, and when I do my heart explodes with joy. So, thank you guy, very much. :)**

**Oh, and this chapter is pretty long. Its kinda a late Christmas and new years present. Hope you guys like. :)**

**And now, *Drum roll* Chapter ten! ~o~**

Hi, I'm Roxas Richards and I'm discovering a lot of things these days.

Axel woke up with a killer hangover but I knew by the way he looked at me that he remembered most if not all of what he said. He departed to take a shower and teasingly invited me in with him. I decided to test my limits and gave him a silky smile with a husky, "Maybe later." He turned red and left immediately.

I got dressed and brushed my teeth out in the bathroom downstairs. Then I washed my face and went into the kitchen. Cloud was in there, cradling his head in his hands over a bowl of Lucky Charms. Zack was leaning on the counter next to the stove, cooking eggs with a cigarette hanging from his lips as he played into an old, green Gameboy Color. Rufus was sitting at the table with the redhead from the ride and Xion. When Xion motioned for me to sit next to her, I did, and she introduced me to Marluxia, Rufus's boyfriend. He died his hair since I saw him in the car and at Cloud's house, now instead of red its a warm pink.

Xion looks way different from last night now that the color has died down. She's still in her pajamas, too, short black shorts with a loose black shirt that has a half naked Skin Industries angel girl on it. She has slippers on, too, fuzzy black ones, with knee high black socks with pink hearts all over them. Her bangs are down and and kind of messy and her face is clear of any makeup. She's the same pale color as she was last night so it obviously wasn't her foundation, but unlike most girls, she's just as pretty without all the face paint on.

We hear Zack curse and she laughs with a roll of her eyes. "He's playing his old Pokemon games. Ignore him." Then she looks at him and smirks. "He's such a freaking kid. What kind of twenty year old plays Pokemon? On a Gamboy color, that."

Zack looks up and us and pouts. "_I _do."

"Which one is it?" I ask, interested. I used to love playing Pokemon growing up.

"Gold," he says proudly. "Been saving it all these years."

Suddenly my childhood floods back. All the Pokemon games on my Gameboy systems, all the staying up late in my bed so I could play. Maybe sneak off while the family was distracted to hide under the sink and play for hours. The hardest decision of my childhood was which starter Pokemon to get. I got in a fight with someone in elementary school because he said that Pokemon was gay. My only fight. Good times.

Sora comes down a little while after. He gives Zack an odd look when he realizes what he's playing and Zack puts a hand on his hip, looking righteous in the morning light. "I know what your thinking, Sora. 'Wow, his bond with his Pokemon is so strong! Look at his Pokemon's strength! He probably _never _got made fun of in school. I wish I could be just like him when I grow up!'" He put his hand up as if to stop the gushing. "It's okay, Sora. I'm still a person, just like you. Yes, you can have my autograph. Where do you want it? Your breast?"

"Oh, yeah. _Totally _bro." Sora sits across from me and I notice that his face is getting better. When he came here he was messed up. Now the swelling has gone all the way down and his lip is only split instead of swelled and irritated. The hand marked bruises are already gone and the big bruise that he had on his right cheek bone is subsiding and his black eye is only bruised at the bottom corner now. He heals up fast. I still don't believe him when he says that he fell. Obviously he didn't. He probably got in a fight or something, knowing Sora, and got his butt handed to him or something, and because its such a shock since he always wins and so embarrassing, he's lying about it.

When Axel comes in he meets my eyes for a moment and I give him my sexiest smile. When he looks down quickly and hides the bottom half of his face with his hand in embarrassment, I laugh inwardly. The shower earlier and now this. I'm going to have a lot of fun with my new superpower. I shall call myself Lust Man and fight villainy with my sexy powers of utter sexiness.

Namine, Riku and Kairi all come in at the same time. Their dressed other then Kairi and Namine's matching fuzzy slippers, Kairi's red and Namine's pink. Namine kisses me and sits at the table next to me. It's my turn to look away when Axel glares at her then meets my eyes. I feel my chest tighten and have to look at Sora who shakes his head at me. I glare at him because I know what he's thinking. That the look between Axel and I just now points to what he was saying yesterday. That I shouldn't have let Namine kiss me because not only am I leading her on but she kissed other guys yesterday, including Axel. That's just what I can see on his face. God knows what else that boy is thinking.

I laugh when Riku sits next to him and Sora gives me a look. Poor guy, he's barking up the wrong tree.

"I'm gonna run to town for you, sweetie," Xion calls over to Cloud who has pushed away his untouched bowl and buried his face in his arms. He grunts a response. Then she looks to us. "You guys wanna tag along? I don't wanna go alone and Rufus never wants to go places with me. Marluxia only does whatever he wants."

Sora agrees for both of us and Namine nods. Kairi says that she and Riku need to 'talk' so they'd just stay. Sora drags me along without protest because after that look with Axel I'd rather not be stuck in the house with him. He leads me to the front back seat of the Expedition and Namine gets in next to me. Then he gets in the front and starts talking with Xion as she pulls away. I guess they know each other, but it makes sense since Cloud and Leon are best friends that he'd know Cloud's sister.

Namine leans her head on my shoulder and I get a nice whiff of her perfume. She's so cute in her slippers. Xion turns her attention on us when Namine starts to talk into my ear and makes a hacking sound. "Oh, barf! Roxas, I thought you were gay!"

I see Sora roll his eyes before he looks back at us. "_Everyone _thinks he's gay. It's 'cause he's a total twink."

"Mmh," Xion nods in agreement. "Yeah, he is a twink. Hey, Roxas, ever been with a guy?"

"No," I say, trying to keep the annoyance from my voice. I'm happy to find that I've succeeded.

Sora snorts and waves his hand dismissively. The bastard. "He's never even had a _girlfriend. _Namine's his first one."

Xion gasps. "Oh, wow, really? A cute little thing like him?" She looks at me in the rear view mirror. "There's no way. Hows that?"

"All the girls at school think he's gay and that we're going out," Sora laughed. "It was a rumor Axel started our freshmen year. And then there's the fact that he's afraid to talk to girls and he's really shallow and picky. They don't think I'm into guys anymore, though. I'm a big fucking hearthrob, you know."

Good god. I can't believe I had forgotten about that! That's why the guys in my classes started acting weird towards me and all the girls wanted to be my friend. One of them told me about the rumor and I brought it up with Axel and he laughed about it! Namine giggles beside me and takes my hand in hers. She's laughing at me, too!

"So," Xion says, looking at Namine in the mirror now. "Your sister. She bi?"

"She had a girlfriend once," Namine said in thought. "I think so."

Xion nodded. "She breaking up with that Riku tool?"

Namine shrugged and sighed, laying her head on my shoulder. "I have no idea. She tells me nothing about her relationships."

Xion had to go to the drug store to get some Advil. It takes awhile but after driving around the little mountain town for an hour we find a Rite Aid pharmacy and go in. Its relatively empty with only one cashier on staff and a few inventory checkers. She treats us to ice cream even though it feels like its below zero outside and we sit in the car with the heater on while we eat it. Xion's really funny, I quickly realize. In a short time I find out a lot about her, too. She's sixteen, a lesbian, a raver and hates Cloud as much as Sora and I.

"Well," she says when we finish. "Better get home to those tools of a brothers."

Cloud is laying on the couch when we get back, sleeping with his head on Zack's lap. Zack is engrossed into his game of Pokemon and doesn't even look up when we walk in. Rufus and Marluxia are all cozy together on the other couch, watching Beauty and the Beast with Leon awkwardly next to them. Sora takes a seat next to him and Leon puts his arm around him. I guess all of Leon's friends know about them being together. Xion stays with Sora and Namine and I go up to the room she's sharing with Kairi.

After kissing on her bed for awhile we snuggle and watch some South Park on the TV in their room. I'm happy to find that I'm getting better at the whole make out thing. I'm pretty damn proud of myself. We end up kissing again but this time there's something more. Namine starts to kiss my neck and sits on top of me and... dear lord, there's no way she's thinking to do _that_! I push her off and she stares at me oddly. I have to cover up quickly but I'm really flustered. "Uh, um, I'm a virgin, so..." Her expression changes to pity. Why would she pity me for being a virgin? "I don't really think I'm ready to take that... Erm... _step_."

She giggles and nods her understanding. "I understand. Your not mature enough."

"Mature?" I stare at her. "Because I want to stay a virgin makes me immature?"

She shakes her head, still smiling. "That's not what I mean. I don't mean the way you act, I mean the way you feel here..." He pokes her index finger into my chest where my heart is. "And here." She motions for my nether regions and I scowl at her. That makes her laugh again. "Well, your the first guy to deny me, Roxas."

I feel a pang. "You sleep with a lot of guys?"

"What?" Her expression changes again to a look of almost worry. "Well, yeah, but... I don't do that when I have a boyfriend, if that's what your implying."

"But you do when you _like _someone," I say, not sure where all this is coming from. "Like you said you liked me?"

Now her face hardens. "What do you mean? I didn't sleep with anyone for months because I liked you. I'm not that much of a whore."

"That didn't stop you from kissing my stepbrother," I ground out, wishing I never said it. But the words just keep coming, as if I had broken a damn or something in my throat. With each word I can see her face sink with her heart, but I just keep throwing them out. "You know, that's what everyone's saying. That your a whore. I didn't really believe them, but... well, you pretty much just admitted to it. Did you really kiss Axel? I mean, seriously?"

"Yes," she says, her shoulders squared and chest out. "I did. But that doesn't mean..." She stops.

"Doesn't mean _what_?" I demand, standing up and off the bed. She gets up, too, and stands on the other side of the bed, facing me. "What, Namine?"

"That doesn't mean I don't like you!" She's yelling now and I feel I have to yell back.

I grit my teeth. My heart hurts. I feel like I'm going to cry. I've never been strong when it comes to arguments or matters of the heart, so this is a deadly mix. And now Axel has been thrown into it, and for some reason, that makes it worse. Maybe I am getting feelings for the gorilla, but I'm not going to let him ruin my relationship. But the words are still coming in spite of my thoughts as I say, yelling back, "If you really liked me you wouldn't have kissed him!"

"I was _confused_," she tries to defend herself. "I thought you didn't like me and Axel was flirting with me so I just thought 'fuck it Roxas doesn't care about me I might as well have some fun.' But the whole time I was thinking about you! Okay? Are you happy?"

"No." I walk out of the room and she follows after. To my dismay, the whole group of house inhabitants, excluding Kairi and Riku, have moved outside the room, listening to our argument. My eyes go across the crowd, to Marluxia and Rufus's bored looks, to Cloud and Leon's looks of amusement, Sora, Zack and Xion's looks of pity and then stay on Axel for a brief moment as he smiles triumphantly. Then I look at them all again. "What the fuck are you all looking at?"

They get out of my way as I storm through, Namine following after. "Roxas-!"

"Fuck off," I hiss at her and slam the door to the room I'm staying in.

**~o~**

Around four Axel comes into our room. I've had time to think about what I said to Namine and how childish it was for me to snap like that, even all the cussing, but I'm still pissed off and in a bad mood. So, when he walks in, I glare at him over the math homework I was supposed to be doing over the break and have neglected the last few days. When he just stares back at me I snap, "What?"

"Let's go play in the snow," he says.

I stare at him. "No."

"Okay." He sits on the bed and stares at me more. What is he staring at? What's his problem? "You have a cute glare, you know."

I want to punch him. I don't know why, but that statement embarrasses me. I want to spit insults but I think I've had enough fighting for today. He sighs and takes the homework from me, looking it over. Then he throws it somewhere. His smile makes me want to punch puppies, the bastard.

"C'mon, Roxas! Let's do something fun. It's winter break, for shits sake. Your such a square, I swear."

"I'm not a square," I snarl at him. But then it dawns on me. I am a square! I am so freaking lame its unbearable! When he stares at me, I can't help but blush. "I'm not!"

Axel laughs and takes my hand, pulling me off the bed. "Then show me. Come on, let's build a snowman."

"Because snowmen are _so _hardcore," I grumble and follow him out of the room, grabbing my jacket from the chair by the desk. I'm already wearing my boots so that's all I need. We walk outside and I see Leon and Sora sitting on the porch swing together, snuggled up by each other. Their kind of cute together. Apparently, they made up last night over the whole Vincent thing.

My boots crunch in the snow that fell over the night. Axel starts to roll a big ball of snow and I watch, unable to hold my smile as he struggles. I sit on my butt and start patting snow together for the head. My hands burn from the cold but I don't care. I'm done before Axel is so I get up and start to roll the torso of the snowman. Its heavy so he has to put it on top of the bottom ball but I put on the head and find the rocks to make its face. He breaks the arms of branch off of a nearby tree and sticks them in. Then we stand back and admire our hard work.

"It looks like its sick," I laugh, because, who are we kidding? This has to be one of the worst snowmen of all time. The balls are uneven and the stick arms are crooked and it the wrong place. The rocks are all different sizes and different colors, not making up a complete smile because rocks are scarce and hidden underneath the snow. One of the eyes is way bigger then the other.

Axel laughs, too, but shakes his head. "It's cute. Maybe a little lopsided, but, still."

Snow angels, snowball fights, eating snow and trying to warm our frozen hands up... I'm actually having fun with Axel. When was the last time we just played around? Or just had fun together? I don't think we've ever been like this. We both lay in the snow on our backs and stare up at the bright, gray sky. The snow has started falling again, lightly showering over us. Its beautiful. I'm in a good mood now, giggly like I'm a schoolgirl. When Axel reaches over and takes one of my hands in his, I don't pull away and let it sit in the snow in between us.

"Roxas," he says and I grunt a response. "Thanks for coming out here with me. I know you didn't want to."

"I'm having fun," I say, partially lying but partially not. "I'm sorry for yelling at you the other night. I was out of line."

He shrugs, squeezing my hand. "Nah, you were perfectly in line. I was being a dick. I just wanted to piss you off and get you to break up with that girl. I was, um... what's the word?"

"Jealous?" I smile and look at him. He stares back blankly.

"Yeah."

Our eyes are locked for a good ten seconds before he starts to lean in. I lean in, too, but its a slow process. At least, it feels slow, when in reality, it wasn't. Our lips never meet, though, because Cloud calls to Axel from the front porch. He curses and excuses himself before getting up, leaving me, sitting in the snow, freezing cold and wet, mentally freaking out.

Because I almost kissed Axel!

I get up a few minutes after and find Namine. Then I kiss her and apologize and lay my head on her shoulder. She pats my back and apologizes, too. But I don't have the heart to tell her that the fight isn't the only reason I'm apologizing.

Namine informs me that Riku and Kairi did, in fact, break up. Kairi's been sulking all day in the kitchen, eating away her sorrows, while Riku went home. She glares up at me from the counter where she'd been eating some cake and snarls at me. Then she continues to eat.

Sora comes in, in an incredibly good mood, and sits in the seat next to Kairi. He hugs her and giggles, saying that he's sorry for the tragic breakup, and that he understood how she felt. Then he makes the biggest mistake of his life. As he tries to comfort her, he says, "He was useless, anyway! I can't even count how many times he's tried to kiss me..."

Kairi stares at him, wide eyed, and Sora sighs miserably.

"Right, right... What is that, one slap?"

"Three," Kairi corrects.

"_Three_?"

"That's what she does," Namine told me, giggling. "If you do something that pisses her off or hurts her feelings, she gets to slap you. How many depends on how annoyed or hurt she is. Oh, and they come randomly so you can't do anything about them. And they fucking _hurt_. Bad."

I almost shiver at the thought of Kairi, the scary beast that is my girlfriend's sister. Dear lord, if she ever found out about whatever is going on between Axel and I... I do shiver now.

Sora looks absolutely terrified. "Can't we just get it over with now?" Kairi shakes her head and Sora whines. "Please?"

**~o~**

Kairi's slaps were, in fact, random. When the third party started up we were all sitting on the couch, Namine snuggled up beside me and Sora telling us about something that happened in class. When we were all laughing, Kairi took that moment to strike, and the slap echoed throughout the room. People looked over to see what happened, curious eyes looking to where Sora held his cheek, crying in pain.

"That's one," Kairi smiled.

"Oh, god, I can't see!" Sora blinked his left eye, the side where he got slapped. Kairi's hand mark is burned into his skin, angry and red.

"Are you gonna cry?" Kairi asked.

Sora sniffled. "No!"

**~o~**

Sora was pretty butthurt after Kairi slapped him. He hid away with Leon for most of the first few bands, but when Leon had to go help with 'Elektrik Pork Vomit's practice before they went on, Sora came back out with us. It occurs to me that I've never heard Axel's band play seriously, only muffled from the basement, and I haven't been able to see them these last few days. Everyone says their good so I'm guessing they are, but their probably not my type of music. Heck, I don't even know what type of music they are! Maybe metal? Or punk... That's what the other bands have been so far. The ones that I heard. I feel ashamed, not knowing what my own stepbrother's band genre is.

"There's a scout tonight," Sora tells me when he comes back. "Their serious for the show now. Cloud says it might be their only chance to be signed. I've never actually heard them play. Have you guys?"

"Last night," Kairi says indicating for both herself and Namine. I shake my head.

"I feel bad," Sora giggles. He turns away from us for a moment to pick up a cup from the alcohol table. When he turns back, Kairi slaps him again. The sound echoes through the room like before and the liquid in the cup sloshes out and onto some girl passing. Her boyfriend turns around to cuss us out but stops when Leon comes back down the stairs and stands behind us. Sora didn't notice any of that, though, because Kairi slapped him _hard_. He's on his knees cringing and whining from the pain. Kairi just laughs and picks up her own cup, walking away.

"That's two~!"

**~o~**

Now Sora has two red hand marks, one on each cheek. Poor guy, but its kinda funny to see him keep shooting nervous glances around like Kairi's going to come out of nowhere and attack him. He flinched when Namine tried to hand him his phone he had dropped. He had dropped his phone because he had flinched away from someone passing by him. Its just so hilariously bad.

We're all outside, sitting on the porch swing now. Namine gave me a cup of my own and, while I hate drinking, I find myself sipping on the beverage because the burn feels nice in the cold night air. Sora's downing drink after drink because of his nervousness and Namine has had a few drinks herself. She leans her head onto my shoulder and sighs. Kairi comes out to join us, more then a little tipsy, Sober Xion following to help her. She sits in between Namine and I and puts her arms around both of us to hold us close to her chest.

"I love you guys! I could never live... Hic! Without you!" She makes this awful gurgling sound and Xion sighs, pulling her up and sitting her on the other side of Namine, sitting at the end herself. "Why? I just wanna love them with all my heart!"

Namine and I giggle at how slurred her words are and she returns her head to my shoulder. Xion is still struggling with Kairi when I ask Namine, "Who all plays what in Elektrik Pork Vomit?" I'm even more ashamed that I don't even know what Axel plays. "I mean, instruments."

She hums in thought. "Well, Cloud sings, Leon plays bass and is a backup singer, Axel does guitar and sometimes sings backup for the melody songs, then Rufus is drums. Never sings. Sounds like a dying cat, really."

I laugh, but stop when Kairi makes another gurgling sound and look over at her where she's laying with her head in Xion's lap. They'd be cute together right now if Kairi wasn't drunk, with Xion running her hands through Kairi's hair and telling her those comforting words many people do with intoxicated lovers.

The bands on stage change and by the time 'Elektrik Pork Vomit' ( I have no idea why they picked that awful name), there has already been six bands on stage. By then, though, Kairi's thrown up on me so I end up taking a shower and changing for the first half of their performance. When I'm done Namine meets me in the hall and we walk outside, hand in hand. Their music is already on blast and I must say, I'm impressed. Namine has no problem pushing through a crowd, her words varying from 'excuse me' to 'fucking move!' She's just so polite and feminine. It isn't too long before we're at the front, looking up at Cloud who winks at us.

I'm surprised. They're _good. _They're _really _good. And their not the hard metal band I assumed they were. Their actually Indie rock! It's weird. Cloud sings like a freaking angel, too. His voice rides the melody perfectly, Axel and Leon both humming in the background to certain lines in the first song. They play five altogether with one extra song where they play a cover of 'The Reason.' Clouds voice is just so... Wow. I can't fathom it, really. I mean, just... Wow! He gets every note right, high or low, taking a long time before having to take a breath. Then Leon has a nice voice himself and plays guitar like a god. Sora told me once that he's been taking guitar lessons since he was six and I figured that he was good, but not _this _good. Then there's Rufus who looks rather bored as he plays the drums but hits every one perfectly, with the right force and the perfect taps on the cymbal.

Most surprising to me was Axel. I'd heard him sing in the shower over the years and he sounded pretty normal then. But now, on stage with the other voices and instruments to accompany him, his back up vocals are just as amazing as Cloud's. It seems easy to play bass and he carries generally the same note through most of the song in most of the songs, he's better then I thought he'd be. I mean, he had to teach himself, so he's pretty good for the circumstances, and they actually have a lot of different notes for bass in their songs.

When they were done I had a completely new look on this group of immature idiots. Now they're talented musicians and I'm a freaking groupie. When they walked down the path back to the house everyone gathers around and cheers. Its like they're a real band in this place. Is it wrong that Axel looks more attractive now that I know he has talent and a future? I know it is, so to compensate I take Namine's hand and squeeze it gently as we walk back into the house.

It hits me when I'm standing in the kitchen with my friends that this is the last night we're going to be in this house. We met up with Sora again and he's messing around in the corner with a bunch of guys, cheering as one of them downs from a beer bong. There's a keg behind them that my eye catches. Then I look over at the counter top that holds all the alcohol. Namine hands me a cup and without thinking about it I take a sip. Hell, why not?

Because I'm what Sora calls a 'light weight.'

I can only have two cups of brandy with Coke before I worked up a buzz, so I stop there. I have common sense unlike my friends who are still drinking way after the brink. Eventually, we all work our way up to Sora's room and sit in a circle on the floor. By 'we all' I mean Sora, Namine, Kairi Xion and myself. Namine is so drunk its not even funny. Kairi's worked off most of hers and has stopped drinking, sipping on water to clear her head. Sora finishes his beer and stares at the bottle moment before cracking a smile, getting an idea.

"Lets play spin the bottle."

Everyone but me agrees, but after some prodding and a few drinks Namine forced me to have from her cup, I nod and agree as well. It was funny because the first time was Sora who spun it and he had to kiss Xion, who turns out to be a lesbian and she makes a face when they do it. Then she spins the bottle and it lands on Kairi. Kairi giggles before they share a lingering kiss. Cute.

"I have a boner," Sora jokes, opening another beer on the edge of the table. "Your turn, Roxas."

So, I spin it. When it lands on Sora I object immediately. "I am not kissing you." He puckers his lips and gets on his knees, crawling to me. "Sora, no! Get away! I'm not kissing you!" He crawls on top of me and lets out a laugh when he pushes me down.

"Come on, Roxas. Do it!" he says, taking my face in both of his hands. I blush and try to push him off. The girls, including Namine, cheer me on. Reluctantly, I squeeze my eyes shut and let Sora do it.

I'm starting to think that God has it out for me because that's when Leon steps into the room.

"What the fuck is this?" he demands, dropping his own beer. It breaks on the wood flooring and he curses, trying to kick some of the liquid off of his shoes. He looks up and glares at us, mostly Sora who has crawled off of me. Sora sighs wearily. "Dammit, Sora! So much for not fucking cheating anymore!" He turned to leave and was out of sight for a few seconds before stomping back to the doorway and telling me, "And your fucking brother wanted to see you!"

Why does everyone insist on calling Axel my brother? We don't share blood parents, dang it! Reluctantly, I stand and dismiss myself. Namine doesn't notice me leave because now she's passed out on the floor next to where Kairi is sitting.

Axel was waiting for me on the front porch, talking into his cell phone. I raise a brow at him expectantly and he hands me the phone, mouthing, "Your mom." Oh, fuck.

"Hello?" I say into the phone.

-Hi, honey,- my mom's voice comes back through to me. -Are you having fun?-

"Yeah..."

-Good, good...- A silence passes before she asks, -Are you using protection?-

It takes me a moment to process what she said. "Wait, _what_?"

She panicked immediately, her words coming out quick and high pitched through the phone. I actually had to hold it away from my ear to refrain from hearing damage. -It's just that your father was telling me earlier that he used to do all- all sorts of crazy and obscene things when he went on vacation with his friends and your getting older now so... so... I only figured! Oh, and Axel told your father about you getting a girlfriend and I found out and I must say I think you're far too young to be out there partying and what not with god knows who, but if you do end up getting nasty with this girl make sure to use a, uh... a condom!-

"Mom, I am _not having sex_," I say, shooting Axel a look.

-Well, just be careful, sweetie. I'll, er, I'll see you tomorrow?-

"Yeah," I agree before hanging up.

"She was listening in on me and dad talking," Axel defended automatically. "I didn't know she was on the other line."

"Yeah, she does that," I sigh. "That's why I don't make calls on the house phone. Figured you'd have known that by now. Is that all you wanted me for?"

He pouts slightly. "No."

"Then what do you want?" I sigh.

"Did you like our band?" He's smiling hopefully, almost like some little kid trying to impress his mom at a school play. Its almost cute, almost makes him attractive like he was earlier when he was playing, only its Axel. But this isn't the Axel I grew up with. Its like he's changed into a completely different person. I guess he really isn't as bad as I thought he was.

I smile back, trying to be nice as well. "You guys were really good. I liked it a lot. You know, you have a really nice voice." I try to put on my best seductive voice because its funny to watch him squirm.

"Er, um, you want a beer or something?" he asks, looking down at his shoes then back up at me. "I mean, I know you don't drink, but I figured that you might want to get a beer with me and sit on the porch swing. Or something. I don't know."

I laugh lightly and nod, saying, "Sure. I'll have one. Even though they taste like piss."

Sitting on the swing with Axel wasn't as bad as I thought. He explained to me that Cloud was upstairs right now with a music scout, working out a deal. He said that they probably aren't going to be signed yet because of the label it was, but they'd probably have to prove themselves at the battle of the bands the label is sponsoring. He offered for me to go and I replied with a maybe because god knows if my mother will let me now that I have a girlfriend.

Axel puts his arm on the back of the swing and I blush. Freaking hell, this is bad. He's playing the same game I'm playing at! He leans in close to me and says in a husky voice right into my ear, "You know, I might actually get famous. You should totally be one of my groupies."

I put a hand on his chest to kind of keep him back but kind of just to touch him because his amazing scent is doing wonders to me. "Dear lord, I'd never degrade myself that way."

He laughs and sits back, taking a drink of his beer. I look down at my untouched one and take a drink of my own. It _does _taste like piss! What the heck, why do people drink this crap? I talk all this crap in my head, though, but find myself taking another drink.

"So," Axel says to clear the silence. "You and Namine were fighting earlier. You were scary when you came out of the room, cussing and shit. You two are having relationship problems already?'

I shrug and tear at the label on my half drunk glass bottle. "She called me immature or something because I didn't want to have sex with her. And I pretty much called her a whore and yelled at her for kissing you."

He moved his arm slightly off the back of the bench so that he could play with my hair, most of his focus on the task. "Yeah, I don't think you two are gonna work out very well, and I'm not saying that because I want you. I'm just saying that while you guys look cute together, she's kind of advanced when it comes to relationships, like always wanting to fuck and kiss and shit. And you're not into that kind of stuff yet. That's what makes you so cute." He meets my eyes now and I keep the gaze before feeling another blush and having to look down and continue ripping the label from my beer. "Besides, you two could pass as siblings. Its creepy."

I smile at that, still not looking up. "I guess we could. But I don't really wanna break up with her. I mean, I really like her."

"What do you like about her?" he asks, his fingers leaving my hair and his eyes going to his own beer.

"Hhm. I guess her personality. She's really nice and funny. Oh, and she's really cute and I'm kind of shallow so her body. I don't know, there's just something about her."

Axel smiles at me and pats my back before saying, "Yeah, that's all girls are. Just nice faces and bodies. Hey, wanna go back inside? Its freezing out here."

"Sure," I say and he pulls me up. When he doesn't let go of my hand as we walk in and I don't pull away, I silently panic. This is bad. This is really bad. I had better not start liking this freaking brute of a teen. I mean, sure, I kind of admit to liking him, but I'm not gonna _like _him to where I want to be with him. I don't like guys and I have a girlfriend and he's a jerk. Well, he's not that bad, I guess, since he's been nice to me lately, but still.

He grabs another beer, throwing his empty bottle into a trash can. I set my almost empty one on a counter to be abandoned, done with the taste. In the kitchen, he offers me something to eat but I decline because my head is kind of spinning and I don't think I can stomach anything from how dizzy I'm getting. We end up sitting at the counter seats, talking again about why beer tastes so gross. Suddenly, he stops and stares at my neck intensely.

"What?" I furrow my brow at him. "What is it?"

"Dude..." He reaches a hand out to pull on the hood of my shirt so he can get a better look. He grins at me when he confirms whatever he's looking at and then laughs lightly. "You have a hickey!"

"What?" I slap my hand against the infected area of my neck. "Are you serious?"

He removes my hand and laughs again, shaking his head. "You are so dead when your mother sees that!"

Oh, god, I _am _dead. When my mother grounds us, its like being in Alcatraz. No phone, no computer, no reading for fun, no TV, no friends, locked windows, no leaving your room unless its for the chores they assign the us upon punishment. All there is to do when being grounded in our house is stare at the wall, work like a dog and sleep. If my mom see's this hickey- oh, dear lord... I will _never _see daylight again!

**~o~**

The party dies down around four, ending the 'camping' trip that has completely changed my life. Namine ends up in her own bed when Sora and I carry her unconscious body and Kairi ends up staying the night with Xion. What they're doing in there, I don't want to know. All I know is that Xion kicked out her roommate, Rufus, for the night. Sora and Leon end the night fighting again, Leon calling Sora a 'slutty whore bitch who will never love anything.' Ouch. Sora wants me to sleep with him tonight and, frankly, I don't think I can face being in the same bed as Axel with all the crap that's gone on between us the last three days. So, I end up bunking with Sora and Leon sleeps on the couch. Everybody else stayed in their respected rooms, Axel grumbling complaints because I'm not joining him, but he can complain all he wants. I'm still not getting in bed with him.

"Leon thinks I'm a slut," Sora sighs into the darkness of the night. I try not to roll my eyes or be sarcastic with a remark like _I wonder why_? Since Sora has been my best friend for ages and knows everything about me, even crap I don't even know about myself as he's demonstrated recently, he adds, "Yes, I know, I am kinda a slut, but it still kinda hurts for your boyfriend to call you one, dick."

I laugh and meet his eyes through the darkness. "Well, you have to prove to him that your not. I mean, I'm not a relationship expert or anything. Far from it from how much of a mess _my _love life is right now."

That makes him giggle and shift where he's laying a bit. "Yeah, I guess I'm barking up the wrong tree, aren't I? G'night, Roxy. Love you."

**~o~**

Sora and I didn't wake up until four the next afternoon. Even after we woke up, it was still awhile after that everyone else did. Cloud wasted no time packing and leaving, saying that he had hired a cleaning crew to do the cleaning. Well, crap, not like I'm complaining.

We didn't get home until around nine. Axel and I haven't said a word to each other all morning, a tense awkwardness surrounding us. He didn't even look at me until we were dropped off at our house. We stood on the curb, Cloud driving away, in silence. Then he turned to me and adjusted my hood to cover my hickey with a smile. "Well, you better pray she doesn't see it."

And pray I did. Every step we took up to our front door felt like a century. When the front door swung open and our parents met us out front, Josh resting on my mothers hip, dread washed over me. She's going to see it. She's going to see it and I'm gonna be screwed and grounded until I'm thirty. Crap. Crap. Crap.

"Oh, my baby!" She took my face in her hands and kissed my cheek repeatedly. I can hear Axel's laugh before he hugs his dad. "I missed you! So much!" She pulls away to stare at my face.

"Did you guys have fun?" Dad winks at us and leads the way into the house, my mom closing the door. Axel and I both nod tensely, knowing that everything we've done the last three days can't be alright with them, even our lay back father. "Good, good."

I think I'm in the stretch, dismissing myself for bed (Yeah, right, I slept all day.) when my mom looks me over. She pauses neck high in the second round of looking me up and down, steps forward and yanks my hoodie to the side to get a look at my neck. I pause, too, and just stare at her with wide eyes. I'm fucked.

I see Axel next to my dad, my dad cringing because he knows whats coming and Axel shaking his head with a sigh. My mom stares at the kiss mark on my neck, lets go of my jacket and narrows her eyes at me, shaking her head in disappointment.

"You're grounded."

**~o~**

**A/N**

**So this chapter was exactly ten pages long, the last sentence ending exactly at the end. Hehe I'm proud of myself. That's four more then usual.**

**So, I meant to post this on New Years but my brother ended up getting in a dirt bike accident and messing himself up pretty bad so I've been busy trying to find out whats up with him because we hadn't known for a long while after the accident since he was on vacation with his friends, and then I had to help him a bit and what not, and before I knew it it had been over a week so sorry, guys. :/ Beh, I know, I know, I'm a jerk for not updating. **

**I hope you guys liked this chapter. :) Finally that freaking party ended! Ugh! Thank gawd. **

**So, as always, review. :) They fuel me like there's no tomorrow. Thanks so much to all my readers for following this story for ten long chapters, and thanks for sixty reviews! Because, I mean, wow. Sixty reviews. Ten chapters. Ugh, I am so happy right now. What a way to start a new year!**

**I'll see you guys soon! :D Bye bye~!**


	11. Insufferable

**~o~ Chapter eleven in Cloud's Pov. Enjoy. :) ~o~**

Hello. I'm Cloud Strife, a formal teenager who just happens to be an insufferable asshole.

I guess my sour personality comes from my childhood. I was a rather pleasant child, always laughing and playing, never insulting people like I do now or trick and bully them. I obviously didn't do any drugs or drink because, as I said, I was a child. Those came around my preteen years. As a child, I kept to myself, trying to be the model child my father wanted. Unfortunately, I wasn't. My fucking sister was.

She was always so pretty and nice to the people she wanted to impress, outshining me because I'm the bastard child of an affair my father had with one of his receptionists. I'm also the third born, fucking me over in the long run in shit the bastard fact didn't already. She also hated me because she thought I was proof that her mom could lose all her wealth in an instant if my father decided to leave her.

I lived with my own mother until I was five. She was a beautiful woman. Just so pretty. Her hair was obsidian silk and her eyes a glowing blue, like mine. But she was poor. Every day, she taught me to be formal and speak the right way to impress my father in order to win his favor. She spent what little money we had on etiquette classes and speech teachers because even at five I couldn't speak a word.

One day, after I came home from my speech class, my mother was packing the few items of clothing I had into a suitcase. All she told me was that he'd finally acknowledged me. That my father would be taking care of me from then on.

I latched onto her when the sleek black car pulled up into our run down driveway, my chubby hands twisted into the second hand cloth of her Goodwill dress. A tall man got out of the car and walked around to grab my bag and open the back door for me. Naturally, I didn't want to go. Because I couldn't speak, I couldn't voice this, so I just made these animalistic noises from my throat and cried into her dress. She pried me off eventually and kneeled down in front of me, taking my face in her hands and kissing my forehead. The words she spoke to me are still stuck in my head to this day.

"_He's your father, sweetie, and he'll love you if you make him, okay?" _I still remember the feeling of my hair getting soaked underneath her chin where her tears were falling onto me. _"Make him love you the way I do so he won't treat you the same."_

I sit up in my bed now, thirteen years later, staring into the darkness of my room. Her plan had definitely backfired, making that fucker of a father of mine hate me even more. She would cry if she saw where I was now.

I look over at my alarm clock sitting on my nightstand. It blares _2.30 PM _into the black surrounding it. Well, shit. I slept too long.

I throw my legs over the side of the bed, rubbing my eyes and cradling my face into my hands. Groaning, I cringe at the piercing pain in my head. I've been waking up with headaches a lot lately, just adding to the migraines I chronically get. I let out a sleepy sigh, feeling I haven't gotten enough sleep when in reality I slept almost fourteen hours. The recommended time is eight hours, for shits sake. Before I stand up, I slap Zack on the shoulder and demand he get his lazy ass up and make me some breakfast/lunch while I'm taking a shower. He will. He always does what I tell him to do.

The warm water from the shower soothes my throbbing head a bit when it washes over my naked body. I only have ten minutes of hot water because of how shitty my water heater is, so while I wish I could stand in here all day, I have to wash off quickly and get out before it turns freezing. I hate cold water. I hate cold things.

When I got out, I dried off, brushed my hair, put on lotion, putting on some A and D ointment over the collage of tattoos on my arm so that it'll stay 'fresh' or whatever, and then I pulled on some clean clothes before spraying myself with Axe. Not too much to where people will choke when they come near me like other idiots who wear this shit, but enough so that I smell good. I pull on some socks and my pair of black DC's, too, because I hate walking around bare foot.

Zack was already making me food in the kitchen. I give him a quick kiss on the cheek before going into my shitty living room to let the dogs out. I have them sleep in the house at night but I can't let them stay in any longer than that or they'll shit everywhere, the fucking bastards. I have two tan pit bulls that I had gotten as puppies from my friend's mom who was going to throw them in the pound where they'd be put down for sure. I've always been an animal lover, so I took them in.

Neo, the bigger one, wiggles and drools outside the door for me to pet him. The other, Nala, glares at me from where she's sulking on the porch. She hates it when I kick her out. I scratch Neo behind his ear and motion for her to come over. When she does, I kiss her snout and pet her, too, before going back into my house.

"Get up, fucker," I say to Rufus who's sleeping on my couch. I throw a beer can at him that I had picked up from the floor. He groaned and flipped me off before rolling over and falling back to sleep. "Seriously, I'm just going to make you up a room."

My house has three bedrooms, one being mine, one being a guest room that Rufus doesn't like to go in because it's 'too frilly,' and than my work out/computer room where my computer stuff and work out shit are. I like to keep in shape, dammit. It's also where I work, taking apart and putting back together people's computers, upgrading them to windows 7 and getting rid of viruses. I'm kind of a computer god. That's how I afford living by myself, along with the financial aid I get for attending college courses at the community college after school every other day and the check my father sends me once a month.

It's not too bad, living by myself. Well, I'm really not by myself since Zack lives with me and Rufus practically stays here. We get by day to day pretty well.

I feel bad for Zack, though. He loves me so much, yet I screw him over without him even knowing it. Yeah, I'm a cheater. Bad. I'm falling for someone else, which makes it all the worse, and have several other people who love me that I just lead on.

"I might hang out with Axel tomorrow," I say over the breakfast of hash browns and eggs.

"Hmm," he grunts a response. I think he's catching on to my feelings for Axel because he's been rather weary of him the last few weeks. "Why?"

I shrug, taking my migraine and depression meds with my orange juice. "Just to hang out. What, I can't have friends over now?"

"You know that's not what I meant," he snaps at me. He gets tired of my mind games, I know. Honestly, I get tired of them, too. But I can't stop them.

"What you _meant _was to imply that you don't trust me." I give my my coldest glare and snarl at him, slamming my fork onto the table.

He shakes his head, cradling it in his hands. I think I broke him. Over the years, that is. With all the medications we both have to take, the drugs we're both consuming, the fights we constantly have and the people I've been sleeping with, I don't understand how we're even still together, to be honest.

I remember when I first met Zack. He was one of our servant's sons and stayed in the 'slave houses,' as my father would call them, on the opposite side of our property. He would come in occasionally to help out his mother as she cleaned the mansion floors. She would have to get on her knees every day for hours on end scrubbing every floor in the mansion by hand with a few of the other servants.

I met him a week after I had been taken there. He was sitting, talking with my fucking sister. She seemed to be flirting, the way little girls do with their little dresses and pink bows, missing teeth and faint blushes as they hold their hands behind their backs and sway back and forth. She caught sight of me and glared, causing Zack to look up onto the flight of stairs I was sitting on.

He was older then me by a few years, the same age as my sister, and was taller by a few inches. His black hair was cut short and he had on a bandana like his mother to keep it out of his face. The workers all wore the same outfits of dark blue coveralls with the Strife company logo stitched over the heart in golden threat. He stared at me a moment before smiling up at me and walking up to stairs so we could meet.

"Hi," he smiled at me. I flinched away from him and huddled closer to the fall guard. "I'm Zack Fair. What's your name?"

"He doesn't speak," my sister said as she walked up the stairs, her nose turned up to me. "My daddy calls him a bastard. He had him with a different mommy. I think he's stupid and that's why he doesn't talk. Right, Cloud?"

I just stared at her blankly, my hands gripping the railing next to me. It wasn't that I was stupid, its not like I didn't understand what they were saying. I just couldn't form the words for a reply. On the contrary, my vocabulary in my mind had be rather advanced for my age.

Zack pursed his lips at me, his blue eyes looking me over. I was considerably smaller then him, but I was also pretty chubby which had made no sense considering the fact that my mother could barley afford to buy food. I was wearing a small suit that my father insisted both I and my new found brother Rufus wear, my sister always walking around in nice dresses and shoes. My hair when I was a child was actually blonder then it is now, believe it or not, and my eyes more of a gray than a blue. My face was rather round and I had a consisted red in my cheeks, probably from high blood pressure or something with my fat ass. My mother always said it was just baby fat. I guess she was right because it disappeared when I turned seven.

Zack and I were inseparable after that. We would sneak away from our duties, his cleaning and my speech classes that had continued even after I moved in with my father, and Zack gave me speech classes of my own. We'd sit under the giant oak tree on one of the far ends of the property where he'd say words to me and I'd silently mouth them back.

"You were cute when you were a kid," I sigh, coming back to the present reality that is my life. Zack grunts next to me where he's laying in my bed, that stupid Pokemon game in his hands. "Dude, the least you can do after we fucking have sex is _look _at me, maybe cuddle a bit. _Not play a stupid fucking kids game._"

He sighs and leans into me, kissing me on the nose. "Just let me battle this gym leader, love."

I sneer at him and roll over onto my side, facing the wall and pulling the soft, flower scented blankets over my mouth and nose. "Play for however fucking long you want, asshole. I'm going back to sleep." I can't help but to peak at the alarm clock that now shouts _4.47 PM_ back at me. I glare at it and turn back to the wall. I squeeze my eyes shut tightly but open them again, looking at Zack from the corner of my vision. "You know I love you... Right?"

He stares at me a moment before smiling lightly. His warm fingers trail down my bare back and I have to resist the urge to shiver under the touch. The familiar sting of tears assaults my eyes but I hold them back as I always do. Even through my depression, I won't let tears get the best of me.

"I know." His eyes are always so warm when he looks at me, forgiving and loving, that I don't think I can face him right now. Not while I just finished fantasizing about our friend while I was having sex with him. "I know, Cloud. I love you too..." He sets his Game Boy down by the clock and lays next to me, wrapping his arms around my bare waist and kissing my shoulder, his body pressed up against mine. His skin is just so warm and now I have to resist a moan from the wonderful heat. "I love you so much. It almost hurts."

He was the first person other then my mother to tell me that he loves me. The second person was my Nana, my father's mother. After that, numerous lovers have told me that. Zack and Nana were the only two that mattered, though.

I met my Nana the month after I moved into my father's home. She was sick when I had first gone there, locked up in an upstairs, far back room because my father was afraid of getting sick himself. I didn't know that, though. I didn't even know she existed.

My father periodically yelled at me, normally because of my inability to reply to his questions. One day he called me stupid and useless, told me that I was a mistake, that he didn't want me. Normally, his words didn't hurt. However, that day the words had a significant sting about them. I started crying as I always did and ran off, away from him. I didn't know where I was going, running through all the hallways in the three hundred room mansion, down all the spiral staircases, in rooms and then back out, through the secret passage ways- anywhere and everywhere. Then I turned into a dead end of a hallway, a single room at the end of it. A scent of roses and vanilla lured me to it, my vision blurry and making the flower wallpaper of the hallway walls and the light pink door swim in front of me. The doorknob was cold in my hand as I pushed the door open. That's when I saw her.

I couldn't help but think how beautiful she was in her old age, even when I couldn't see her clearly. I wanted to, though, so I quickly wiped at my eyes with the sleeve of my suit blazer. She _was _beautiful. She looked in her early seventies with pale white skin, her wrinkles that went around her mouth, under her eyes and over her forehead actually enhancing her beauty instead of bringing it down. Made her look wise, slurring. Her hair was as white as snow, pinned back into a tight bun with a large, jewel studded clip. Her eyes were a shining blue with a green outlining them, her eyelashes long and black behind her wire rimmed glasses. She was wearing a button up nightgown with a floral pattern around the pink fabric. It looked home made, like someone's skilled hands spent hours on it. She was sitting in a large, wood framed bed, the blankets pulled up to her waist and numerous pillows supporting her back. An old fashioned TV sat in front of the bed on a wooden chest, turned on but the volume turned all the way down. The window in the wall to her right was open with the curtains drawn back so that she could stare out into the garden my father was so proud of, as if it was himself who planted the assortment of the most fragrant roses to exist. The vanilla scent came from the candles she was burning all around the room.

She stared at me, confused for a moment, and under her eyes I broke down again. So, she smiled tenderly and held her arms out. I didn't hesitate to run to her bed and jump into her warm embrace, crying into the shoulder of her dress. She rubbed my back, saying, "It's okay, sweetie. You're smarter then he says you are. You are so smart and you are so beautiful. You have so much potential, Cloud. So much ahead of you."

She must have heard about me from the servants because my father never even talked to her. And the hallways around that place carry noise, my father's screams, so she must have heard those, too.

She comforted me for half an hour, holding me close in her lap. She ran her arthritis cursed hands through my hair, continuing with her kind words. All I could think about was how wrong she was, that I was useless, that I _was _stupid, that I was ugly. I didn't want to leave her arms, but a servant came into the room to help Nana take her daily bath. So, I had to leave. After that, I visited her every day. She was so kind, didn't treat me like the bastard child I was. She treated me like I was her real grandson. She loved me unconditionally and I loved her so much.

I remember when she died, how heartbroken I was. I still cry about it to this day. I didn't know how to cope with it after the fact that she was the only thing I had to go through my life up until I was ten, when it was suddenly just gone.

"What are you thinking about?" Zack asks me, stopping his kisses. I shrug and turn in his arms so that I'm holding him now and my face is buried in his chest.

"My nana," I reply simply.

We stay like that for awhile, and the whole time, I sit on that border of consciousness and sleep. I drift off a few times but find it hard to separate the sleep from the border. Zack is out cold next to me, though, sighing and talking in his sleep as he always does. I find myself running my hands through his hair, biting my lip and studying his face. He hasn't changed at all in six years, having reached his current looks at fifteen. So, I've been staring at the same face for six whole years, and I still haven't gotten tired of it.

A knock at the front door interrupts us around six. Reluctantly, I get up and pull on a pair of pants to cover my ass, neglecting a shirt, and walk out of my bedroom, through the hallway and to the living room where my neighbor was knocking on my door. Again. Fuck.

She's older with no bottom teeth and these creepy, gray bug eyes. She smells, too, and needs to shave her chin or something because that's pretty gross. In her hands is my cat, small, black and hissing at me, her yellow eyes glaring. She hates me. Like I give a fuck, Zack's the one who gave her to me, knowing I fucking hate cats. I take her with a smile and thanks, hoping that when I go to close the door, she doesn't put her hand out to stop it like she always does.

She does.

"Kitty's getting big," she observes, looking at the cat. Then she looks me up and down, almost in disgust, looking at the tattoos on my arm and the tattoo on the upper part of my opposite arm of my Nana's full name, _Elizabeth Anne Strife. _"Been getting' in my cat food in the garage again."

I give my best fake smile and throw the cat somewhere behind me when it sinks it's claws into my arms. "Yeah, sorry. I don't know why. I have cat food for her. I even started using the same food as you. She must just like you more." Which she does. Because my neighbor is one of those crazy cat ladies with like, forty cats.

She nods and without saying any more, leaves. I hate her and her crazy little male friend who lives with her and her fat fuck of a brother who never wears a shirt. I like her mother, though. She's ninety something and crippled, has Alzheimer's, so beautiful...

I lazily make dinner after that, throwing together some burritos with the crap from the fridge. My phone rings and I look at the caller ID, groaning. I don't need this right now. But, reluctantly, I pick up the phone and speak into it, "Hello?"

-Not dead yet, huh?- Even when he isn't mocking me, times different from now, my father's words are sneery and superior. -Well, isn't that a _pleasant _surprise.-

"Yeah, okay, insults. Right. What do you want? I'm busy."

-Doing what? Your boyfriend?- There's a string of hacking laughs on his side, but I stay silent so he continues, -But, really. I was just trying to make sure you didn't kill yourself or something. I am also reminding you that I will be paying you a visit tomorrow. You didn't forget, correct?-

Shit. I _did _forget. I forgot so fucking bad that I even made plans with my crush tomorrow instead of cleaning my pig sty of a house. I'm so fucking screwed. I am _so _fucking screwed. I look down at the pile of beer cans sitting by the couch, at the old pizza boxes and wrappers laying around the tables. Holy fuck. "Oh, um, no, I didn't forget. What time are you coming again?"

-Ten,- he replies. -Give or take.-

As soon as I get off of the phone, I spring into action, slapping Rufus on his ass to get him up and retrieving trash bags for the wrappers, boxes and cans.

"Why are we doing this?" Rufus moaned, still half asleep as he cleared off the coffee table. "It's too early for this shit..."

"It's six thirty, fuck tard," I roll my eyes at him. We sleep too much in this house, I know. But, its only because I'm trying to get in all the sleep I can now before winter break is over and I have to go back to school.

Rufus gawks at me, unbelieving. "Holy shit, really?" Sure enough, with a look out the window, its dark. "Fucking shit! I slept all day!" He counts the hours on his fingers. "Fifteen hours! Holy cow!"

I shrug. I've done worse. I love sleep and I can sleep at any time, for however long I want. One time I slept for two days straight, only getting up to piss and eat. It was right after my dad had kicked Zack and I out and we had to get a hotel room on his salary for a few days until he could find an apartment, then I got my little techy job with computers and we got a house. My dad didn't want me to go to the police or whatever (Like I would) and get him in trouble with the law, so he paid me off as well. Sent me a good amount of money each month just to get by, which helps a lot. But now that I'm eighteen he can easily cut me off and not get into any trouble. And he knows it.

"Seriously, why are we doing this?" Rufus asks. He ties the top of his bag into a knot and throws it next to the other full ones by the door.

I don't even look up at him because I'm too busy scrubbing down the table. "Dad's coming over tomorrow."

He panics like me and starts washing the piled up dishes in my sink after waking Zack up. While Zack cleans the dining room without question I get to the bathroom and the guest room. We stay up until three just cleaning, and by then I'm tired as all hell. So, naturally, I went back to sleep.

The next morning, I woke to a loud banging on my front door. A quick look at my clock indicated that I had overslept. I jumped out of bed, tripping on the sheets and falling flat on my face. That wakes Zack up because I end up pulling the blankets off of him and falling onto the bedside table, knocking off everything on top of it. The lamp made a loud clatter as it hit the wall and broke, the clock and cell phone charger being ripped out of the electrical socket. I groan and pull myself up on the side of the bed, realizing that I'm not wearing pants. I look frantically around for some, any pair, and the knocking gets louder, much fiercer. He's going to be pissed if I don't open it _right now_. The thought frightens me, so I suck up my bride and walk right out of my room in my cool ass Lakers boxer briefs, figuring my father has seen me like this plenty times before. Hell, he walked in on me after sex once.

Unfortunately, it wasn't my father at the door. It was my crazy bitch neighbor with my cat. She shrieks loudly and throws the cat. The cat hisses and bares her claws on her way to my face. I had one of those slow motion _nooo-! _moments as she flies at me. I try to step out of the way but I'm much slower and she lands right on my face, scratching and hissing. She falls down a bit and attaches herself to my shirt, trying to claw her way back up to attack my face again. I'm screaming now, trying to pull her off. She hisses at me and bites into my hand, scratching at my fingers. The neighbor bitch is still screaming, telling me to put on pants. I shout back, telling her to fucking leave, but she doesn't listen and takes it upon herself to cover me up with her flannel. I didn't mean to, but on reflex I kicked her in the face. She falls back onto her ass but I barley notice because I've gotten the cat off and am throwing it at the small couch. Cursing, I wipe at the dots of blood spreading across the scratches on my face, hands and arms.

She starts screaming again, calling me a woman beater. I sigh and put a hand out to help her up but she swats me away and dumpily gets up herself, shouting, "See if I'll ever do anything for you again!"

I snort and watch as she leaves my yard before slamming my door shut and wincing at the pain from the scratches. The cat sits on the couch, her yellow eyes watching me hatefully. She lets out a sharp hiss and I hiss back, throwing a DVD at her. Fucking cat, I hope she gets hit by a car.

It takes awhile before my dad actually shows up, three hours later then he said he'd be. It was enough time for me to shower and get dressed, but when he knocks on my front door my hair is dripping wet over my shoulders, soaking the fabric of the black Metal Mulisha shirt I'm wearing. I rush into the living room as I had before, this time sure that its my father and throwing a shoe at my brother to get him up. He sleeps more then me, I swear.

When I open my front door, my father stares at me from the other side of the screen. My dogs, who usually get excited at company, sit quietly on the porch and watch him wearily. He already has his nose up at me as he walks into my home, the door closing behind him.

My father is, in a lack of better words, good looking. He has dark black hair that is graying on the sides, the way he wanted it, that he wears slicked back. He also wears glasses with black rectangular frames and the brand name, V_ogue_, on the side in silver lettering. His eyes glow the same blue as mine, void of any emotion, narrowed at me as he stands in the middle of my living room expectantly with his hands tucked into the pockets of his dress pants. He's wearing a suit as he always does with his Rolex watch shining in the light from the reflection off the real diamonds, silver and gold. While he's in his late forties, maybe early fifties- I'm not sure which- his face is smooth and the only wrinkles are the slight form of crows feet at the corners of his eyes. My father. My rich, stuck up, flawless old man who also happens to be ageless and perfect.

Rufus sits at the couch, rubbing his eyes and trying to seem awake, in fear that my father will snap on him as he always does. Before he can compose himself, though, its too late and my father has already seen that he'd just woken up.

"Sleeping, as always, Rufus?" His cold eyes turn on him now, narrowing more and showing just a flash of annoyance. "I see you are still staying on your brother's couch. Why is that? Is that boyfriend of yours not supporting you anymore?"

Rufus puts on a smile and stands, smoothing out his shirt and the back of his pants. "I don't have to listen to your shit, old man. And for your information, Marluxia and I broke up. Anyway, I'm leaving." He stands up and, without another word, walks past us and right out my front door. Fuck. Now I'm all alone with this man.

Well, not completely alone. Zack is up now and messing around in the kitchen, probably listening to us, waiting for something to happen. I run a hand through my wet hair subconsciously and that catches my fathers eye.

"Do you not know how to properly dry your hair, Cloud?" He dusts off one of the couch cushions and looks at it as if its the most disgusting thing he's ever seen, insulting me because I work hard to keep my furniture nice and clean, with all the people who come and party here.

I reluctantly take a seat next to him, pressing my lips in a thin line before I answer. "I didn't have time, father. I just got out of the shower, and-."

"'Didn't have time?' I was late, and its twelve in the afternoon, Cloud. How could you not have had time? When did you get up?" His eyes stab into me, as they always do. I inwardly flinch.

"...Eleven something."

He lets out an exasperated sigh and rolls his eyes at me before meeting my own, looking at me like I'm an idiot. "You obviously do not understand that normal people get before eight, Cloud. Honestly, why do you think I am supporting you until you graduate? So that you can have a _normal _life, Cloud, like a _normal _working person. The least you can do while I am spending all this money on you is do as I ask."

I lean my head back against the couch, my hair grazing against the wall. Reaching my hands up to my face, I let out a sigh and drag them down along my skin, exasperated at the whole ordeal of speaking with my father. I hate this stupid deal I have with him; why do we have to be in a recession? I just want to get a normal job so I can support myself, dammit! Unfortunately, I need my father to pay for certain things that my side job of fixing electronics can't support. Some people would think that its fatherly love that he doesn't want me to be a drop out, but its really family pride that he has. He wouldn't be able to stand the fact that one of his children are hobos.

"Did you enjoy the party I allowed you to have?" He narrows his eyes at me, obviously indicating to the mess of alcohol and broken shit we left behind. "Happy birthday, by the way."

Nodding, I answer, "Yeah, it was great. I think I'm close to getting a deal. Thank you, father."

It wasn't a real birthday party, considering my birthday was a few weeks earlier, but in my father's eyes it was because that was the present he gave me for turning eighteen. Considering how big that age was, he gave me a big present.

I force a smile, looking at him. Zack walks into the room now with two cups of steaming, sugarless tea as he always does, handing one to me and one to my father. My father's eyes watch him, utterly disgusted. Zack shifts uncomfortably before nodding greeting to him and turning to leave, but my father stops him.

"Hello, Zachary. How are you?"

Zack bites his lip and shrugs, saying, "Pretty good, I guess... Um, what about yourself?"

"Rather well, thank you." He sips from his tea and motions for Zack to take a seat on the other couch. Zack sighs before sitting in it, openly wanting to be somewhere else. For support, I set my hand on his knee and smile at him, feeling his hand squeeze over mine. My father glares at our hands, though, so I pull away a moment later. "I see you two are still together. How is that going?"

I turn my smile on him now, the master of fake smiles. "Very well."

He lets out a dignified snort and turns his nose up at us, no doubt disgusted by our relationship. I don't care; he can be as disgusted as he wants. My personal life is none of his business. However, I can't help but think back to the day he kicked me out because he walked in on us.

Zack and I shared our first kiss in seventh grade, officially going out in eighth. Then, in ninth, we had sex for the first time. It was awkward and in the rose garden behind the mansion I was sill living in, but it felt good. Then we started doing it regularly in his bedroom in the slave houses in tenth. Unsurprisingly, one of the workers figured out what we were doing and went to tell my father. He decided to catch us in the act, and during an after sex glow, he just walked right in. At first, he was calm and I got dressed quickly, being pulled out by him, but when we were back in the mansion, he exploded.

Broken lamps, statues and vases followed his wake as he stormed through the hallways, shouting at me the whole time. If I tried to reply, he'd back hand me, so I stay relatively quiet. He still had a firm grip on my forearm when he got to my room and he threw me in, making me stumble slightly, with a simple command. _"Pack your stuff and get out."_

I have to resist the urge to shiver at the remembrance of the cold words. My father has always been homophobic, which really screwed him over when Rufus came out as being completely gay, opposed to me who has only liked two guys in his life and very much enjoys the female body. Now, while this is going to make me sound like a whore, I _am _a whore so it doesn't matter. For a while, though, I had been messing around with Leon. What made it so bad was that I was still with Zack at the time, I had _also _been sucking Axel off, and I didn't even like Leon that way. I think he's sprung on me, poor guy. I don't understand why; even if Sora is a rude, immature prick, and even if they _are _brothers, they're perfect for each other. I think he should just stick in his cute little incestuous relationship.

My father brings me out of my thoughts when he speaks, "You do understand that I have been thinking about cutting you off, correct?"

I smile and nod lightly, replying with, "Of course. But you won't do that, right? Considering the fact that I am acknowledged by the news as your son. It would look bad for the founder of a big company like _Strife Co. _to let his son, whom he had denied for the first five years of his life, be a drop out."

The look on my fathers face shows that he is stuck between a rock and a hard place. The time for trying to win his favor is over; this is like a business trade. He knows that no matter what he agrees too, he's still screwed. However, he also knows that he is better off just paying for my living expenses which is nothing for his salary, being a billionaire and all, then he would be letting this get to CNN and Fox News where they will skewer him and his company.

My father sips tentatively from his tea cup, the fine, milky china catching in the light. The engraved golden roses on the sides remind me of my childhood when Zack and I would run through the garden and play games like hide and go seek or tag. When he sets the delicate cup down on its saucer, it lets out a very light clank that seems too loud in the deafening silence of the room. You could cut the tension with a knife, as the saying goes.

Finally, my father makes his decision. "Alright, then, Cloud. You have won me over. For now. I will continue to support you until your graduation. But after you get that diploma, I am cutting you off, understand?"

A genuine smile cracks on my face and I nod, standing with my father to shake his hand. "Thank you, father. You won't regret it."

His eyes narrow at me for a moment. "I had better not, Cloud. Anyway, I am leaving now. Tell your brother I said goodbye, or something."

He walks over to my door and practically kicks my dogs out of his way. I follow him out and close the door behind us, petting their heads on my way past as I see my father out. I have to squint my eyes against the sun as my dad walks out my front gate, stopping on the other side as I close it. Its broken, so it has to be shut a certain way.

He knows what I want. He watches me expectantly, his hands in the pockets of his slacks. I cross my arms against myself because of the chill dancing in the air, my eyes still squinted and unfocused on something to my fathers right.

"Have you found out anything?" I ask hopefully. "About her?"

He's silent for a moment before he shakes his head, making my heart sink. "I have not. I cannot even remember her last name."

The thought that my father doesn't even know my mom's last name disgusts me in so many ways.

I walk calmly back up my yard to the door, but as soon as my door is closed I sit on the floor and lean against it, my face turned upward but my hands cupped over it. I let out a dry sob, trying to calm down my racing heart.

He doesn't know my mother's last name yet? _How _long has he been looking for her? Fuck, knowing him, he hasn't tried at all! He's probably just lying to keep me in line, to humor me. It honestly wouldn't surprise me. I see my father's face in the darkness behind my eyelids, feeling the sudden urge to punch the wall.

"Okay, I am seriously fucking tired of your dad. If he fucking- are you okay?" Zack had come around the corner from the kitchen and is now kneeling down next to me. I remove my hands from my face and sigh, shaking my head. "Do you want something, sweetie? Are you gonna cry?"

"I don't cry," I say automatically. And I don't. When I'm drinking, yes, but otherwise, I don't cry. I reach my hand out, motioning for him to pick me up, which he does. I'm only standing for a moment when my phone vibrates with a text in my pocket. I can't help but smile at the screen when it says _Axel _with a little less than three heart next to the name. When I open it, though, the smile automatically leaves my face.

_Cant mak it 2morrow. Roxy is sick. :(_

Well, fucking hell.

I groan and push past Zack, throwing my phone on the couch and walking quickly to the bathroom. I slam the door, locking it, before turning to the giant rectangular mirror above the sink. The white walls of the room sting my eyes a bit, the tile clacking underneath my shoes as I pace back and forth. I stop and look into the mirror again, glaring at my reflection. Then I let out a very loud scream and knock everything off the counters, including the blow dryer, toothpaste, mouth wash and body care products. The mouth wash busts open, bleeding a minty green pool on the ground.

I turn on the sink and lean down, washing my face with cold water to cool me off. It doesn't work much, but it has me trying to regulate my breathing and keep my anger down, my breaths coming shallow and aggravated from my lungs. I look up and glare at my reflection once again, still breathing hard.

I only have a few things in this world that I care about. My dogs are one of them. Then there is Zack, but I don't know how much longer that can last. I honestly don't think we can stay together for much longer and I know that my feelings aren't the same as they were before. Then there is Axel, my closest friend and the guy I think I am falling for. Anyone can have anything else of mine and I wouldn't care. I could be homeless as long as I have my three things, maybe even two because I wouldn't die without my dogs, and there is no way in hell I am letting some prissy little know-it-all child like that fucking Roxas come in here and ruin it.

If I have to, I will scare him off to make sure that he never even _thinks _about messing with my Axel. I will do whatever it takes to keep him away from my man. I do not like Roxas, I don't like how close he's getting to Axel, I don't like that Axel likes him and I do not like the fact that Roxas might be liking him back.

I am Cloud Strife and I am going to ruin my best friend's love life.

**~o~**

**A/N**

**So, I've been trying to make my chapters longer, as you can see. Just for you guys because I love my readers so much. :)**

**Oh, crap! A shit storm is coming! Hope you guys brought an umbrella because it ain't gonna be pretty. :/ **

**Hope you guys liked. See you soon. Review, please! :D **


	12. Sick

**Okay, guys, let me explain.**

**I have written chapter twelve _five different ways_. They all had a different storyline. It just wasn't working out. I know how long it's been, and I am _soooo _sorry, but I'm at a rough patch with all of my stories right now.**

**And then Tumblr keeps getting in my way. I'll force myself to write, but then I'll subconsciously start moving my cursor to Chrome and Tumblr will be open, and then I'll be going down my dash, and then I'll find a blog like 'picturesof50centwithmoney,' and it's all over from there. Or maybe I'll start playing Slender or Rayman Raving Rabidds against my knowledge. Then I go pee, and then take a shower, and then straighten my hair while watching TV, and then I make sure I have some clean(ish) clothes for the next day and that my cats have food and water and a clean litter box, and then when everything is done, I lay down for sleep. And then, right as I'm about to fall asleep, I realize...**

**I'VE ONLY WRITTEN LIKE, ONE SENTENCE ALL DAY. HOW DOES THAT HAPPEN?!**

**The answer: Massive writers block.**

**So, I bullshat a chapter built up on the whole sick thing from the last one. I do like it, though, and find it a nice filler piece.**

**I also want to give my special apologize to the lovely Tranquillity's Chaos,**** because **_**guuuurl **_**I know what I said about updating as soon as possible and what not, but I'm a filthy liar. :/ **

**So, anyway, here it is!**

**~o~ Chapter twelve. :D ~o~**

Today, I am incredibly sick.

I bring a tissue to my face when I sneeze for the billionth time this morning, groaning in misery. I roll onto my side and face the wall, pulling the blankets up to my nose, even though I have a raging fever. My nose is all stuffy, too, and my ribs and stomach burn from all the sneezing and coughing. Can this day get any worse?

Right as the thought comes into my mind, there's a knock on my door and I hear Axel come in. I know its Axel because I can hear the light beep as he types into his phone, and he's the only person who doesn't wait to be called in before opening my door. At least he's knocking now.

"Go away," I mumble, half of my face in my pillow. He turns the light on and I groan again, bringing the blanket all the way over my head to block the evil light that he's just turned on.

I hear him stop walking. "Holy shit, are you sick?" he asks incredulously because I _never _get sick. "Fuck! Are you okay?"

He comes over and kneels next to my bed, pulling my arm so that I lay on my back. He sets his palm against my forehead, wincing for me. With a tutt, he sighs and removes his hand. "Shit. You're burning up! You are _way _sick!"

I sniffle and swat him away, rolling onto my side again so that I don't have to look at him. "Great job, Sherlock." I cough and grab a tissue from the box next to my head on my pillow and sneeze into it. When I'm done, I let out a nasally, "I never woulda known…"

I feel the motion transfer through my bed as he rubs the back of his neck. "Well… Do you need anything?"

"Quiet?" I supply rudely.

To my surprise, Axel actually shuts up. He sits there, too, at the side of my bed. After a few minutes of silence, I can't help but push off my pile of blankets to sit up and stare at him, my face twisted in both annoyance and suspicion. He just stares back oddly, openly wondering why I'm staring.

He asks, "What?"

I can't even build up the energy to roll my eyes. I can only lay back down on my back and close my eyes, sneezing into my sheet. Ew. I gotta sleep in this crap. "Go away."

He looks shocked. "Huh? Why?"

"You're bothering me," I ground out before coughing- okay, hacking- into the sheet now. "Gross…"

He reaches over and gets a tissue for me. Before I can take it, I give him a look and he sighs before leaving his knees to sit on is butt. This means he's gonna be here awhile. Lucky me.

He looks around my recently rearranged room curiously, looking at all of my awesome posters of my favorite games, artists and bands. I even have a Glee and Breaking Bad poster up there. He rolls his eyes at my Katy Perry poster and I let out a light chuckle. Like he doesn't have that stupid Rihanna poster in his own room.

"You have horrible taste in music," he says, crinkling his nose at my HIM poster.

"Says the 'little monster,'" I say, putting on the best sneer I can muster. It isn't much.

"Hey," he says. "Lady Gaga is a goddess. Katy Perry is a horrid singer and an awful song writer. Her lyrics don't mean shit."

I force myself to sit up on my forearms so I can give him an idiotic look. "Oh, yeah. 'Cause _Disco__ Stick _means _sooo _much." I sniffle and take a tissue to wipe my irritated nose.

"Mmh. And _California Girls_ is a work of art." He stands, dusting his butt off, and smiles at me. "I'll go see if we have any 7-up or something."

7-up is for stomach aches, but I don't say this. I roll over again and close my eyes, trying to get some sleep this horrible morning. I must have fallen asleep, too, because when I open my eyes again the clock reads late afternoon at four twenty three, over four hours later. And, god, I feel even worse than before! I don't even feel like I slept at all! It takes all of my strength to get myself onto my back, and I keep sneezing.

What makes it worse is this weight on my freaking chest. I wiggle uncomfortably underneath it and feel an arm wrap sloppily around my waist. I realize quickly that the weight is Axel and that he's laying next to me with his arm around my waist and his head on my chest. God, he's heavy.

I start a long coughing fit into my fist and groan, almost two minutes later, barley able to grumble in a cracked voice, "This sucks…"

Axel lets go of me and snuggles into one of my pillows, letting out a sleep sigh. He's always been a deep sleeper. He really is cute, sleeping like this…

I groan loudly and lay back, taking a pillow to put over my face. I did _not _just think that about Axel! Oh, god, just kill me now! I will _not _be subject to those kinds of thoughts about my stupid, mean, jerk of a stepbrother!

I partially remove the pillow and allow myself a look at Axel. He has the side of his face pushed up against my pillow, facing me with his lips lazily parted. He has a light, adorable snore and his hair is slightly askew on the pillow. I wiggle a bit, mumbling to myself how much of a jerk he is, and not to be fooled by his looks. He's just the devil in disguise. The devil who says he likes me. The devil who has tortured me since late childhood. Who locked me in a van, threw me into a tomb and made out with the girl he knew I liked. I groan again and rub a hand down the side of+ my overheated face, lying on my back.

Maybe I _am _starting to like him. I like Namine, too, though. I feel like I'm pulling a Sora, with my different love interests. I've been hanging out with him too much.

The thought makes me involuntarily shiver. I am _not _like Sora. In any way. I just happen to have a horny girlfriend who wants my penis and a slight bi-curious liking for my evil stepbrother who wants my butt.

I sneeze and wipe my nose, sighing. I'm just miserable right now. I finally get off of restriction and become sick. I don't even know how I got sick! I haven't seen anyone in a month, and I haven't gone outside at all. It was so random, too. One second, I'm staring up at my ceiling (Grounded), the next I'm sneezing my lungs up. What's weird is that I never, ever, _ever _get sick. I haven't been sick like this in three years. Sure, a little cough or a sneeze here or there, but not like this!

I get taken away from my little reverie when I hear a light mumbling coming from my left side. I look down to see Axel, rubbing his eyes as he wakes up. Crap. I'm not ready to face him. Maybe if I kick him off, he'll break his nose and have to leave…

Ugh! That's the cold talking, I swear! I'm not that sadistic!

Axel sits up and groans, burying his face in his hands. He rubs his eyes with his palms now, yawning. Wait! He didn't see me! Maybe I can still pretend to be asleep?! Alas, I cannot, because right as I'm about to lay back down, he looks at me.

"Why are you…" I get cut off by a painful sneeze. "Sleeping in my bed, Axel?"

Axel shrugs and brushes off my question, getting out of my bed. "Shit, I didn't mean to sleep so long…" He groans and rubs his eyes more, shaking his head. "God. I feel like crap."

"You look like crap," I sneer mockingly and nudge him with my blanket covered foot.

"You sound awful," he returns and I do. My voice is so hoarse, I sound like a freaking toad. Ugh. "Your mom went to the store to get you some cold medicine a bit ago. She should be back soon."

I roll my eyes. Please. She didn't go to the store for _me_. She went to the store to make sure I didn't get Joshua sick. She'd always been really mothering when I was a kid. Honestly, I don't know what happened. I guess she thinks that I don't need her anymore now that I'm older, or she might think that Joshua needs all her attention? I honestly have no clue. All I know is that I hate it.

"I blew off Cloud for you," he says. "He's gonna be pissed."

"He's a jerk," I grumble. I sniffle and wipe my nose with a tissue before throwing it over Axel and into a trash bin by my bed. It's already almost full of tissues.

Axel laughs. "Maybe a bit. He's cool, though. I mean, really, he can be a fucking dick, but he ain't that bad."

"That's only because he wants your penis," I say.

He opens his mouth to protest, but is immediately cut off by my cell phone going off in my dresser. I finally got it back, but I just threw it in my junk drawer because I don't feel like texting anybody. He gets up and follows the sound of _Hey There Delilah _on my command and gets my Rumor Touch out of the drawer. Then he _answers _it! I didn't tell him to do that! I gotta put a password on that thing!

"Hello?" He asks, holding my phone up to his ear. His hair is sleep-messy and he's rubbing his eye with his free hand. "No, he's sick. Yeah. Alrighty, I'll tell him. Bye."

That didn't go as bad as I thought it would. I was expecting him to say something vulgar or rude to whoever was on the phone. He throws my phone on top of the dresser and pulls the curtains of the window above it open. It's bright, so I wince. Geeze, my head hurts. Axel strolls over and sits at my computer, giggling the mouse so that a picture of Namine and I show up on the desktop background. She's the one who took it an insisted on me making it my background (over the phone because I don't _ever _want her to come to my house), so I did. It's a nice picture, too, but Axel sneers at it, then sneers at me, then turns the look back on my computer monitor. "Jesus Christ, you're a fag, you know that?"

I can't even make a face. I say, "Says the one who's in love with a guy..."

He laughs and opens Google Chrome. I'm reminded of that time, months ago, before everything got complicated, when he just walked in and got on my computer because he had broken his keyboard. Back when everything made sense and Axel hated me and I hated Axel, and I had no knowledge of Sora's incestuous sex life, and I didn't know who Cloud was, and I would just spend my days reading, sleeping and screwing around with Sora. God, it's crazy how much has happened in the last few months. My sophomore year has definitely been crazy, and with my birthday coming up I gotta say that I feel a heck of a lot older. Even if I'm only turning sixteen, I feel like I've matured a lot. I don't know what's going on with me or my love life, but I do know that slowly, and I mean _slowly_, I'm starting to get a grasp on things. Maybe by the time I graduate I'll know what the heck I want and will finally be able to come to terms with whatever it is I'm feeling.

But, for now, I just watch Axel as he goes on about how I better not make him sick and scrolls down Facebook.

**~o~**

Axel spends the rest of the day in bed with me. At first, I forced him against the wall, saying, "Don't touch me." Mostly because I want to sleep, and because I don't trust him or his dirty, pervy hands. But, as time passes and we lay there in my warm bed, he sneaks up behind me, and because I was half asleep, I didn't really do much other then make a noise and weakly attempt to elbow him. I can feel his breath against my neck after awhile, and I really hope he gets sick, taking advantage of me like this. Spooning with Axel isn't as bad as it should be, though. God, why is everything so complicated? I mean, since when did his skin feel good?

I turn around, uncomfortable, but it doesn't help much because my face just gets pushed into his chest, and there's his freaking scent again. Every dang time. Why does he smell so _perfect_? I bring an arm up and it goes lazily over his shoulder, my hand laying on a pillow. I can feel his smile against the top of my head and he says, "You smell so fucking good."

Jesus, that was unexpected. Does he not understand what his smell is doing to me? I'm seriously contemplating going gay _just _because he smells so good. I guess those Axe commercials were right. If I was a chick I'd be dropping my panties right now.

I feel his hand in the curve of my hip and waste, and his thumb against my stomach. His heartbeat is against my forehead from the way I'm laying. His chest rises and deflates calmly with breath and is in complete contrast with my own ragged breathing. Heck, my heart is beating a bit too fast for my taste.

Where are our parents when crap like his is happening? Sometimes I question them.

Heck, I question them _a lot _these days.

I run my hand, the one that isn't thrown over his shoulder, up his chest out of sheer weakness. I gotta say, he's pretty toned underneath all that skinny. From what I can feel through the wife beater that he's stripped down to (he's wearing underwear, don't trip), he's pretty solid. And, oh god, he has another tattoo. This guy is just such a _rebel._ Now he has a butterfly added to his mother's name, perched to look as if it's behind it, and it looks _good_. Where does he go to get all this crap? It has to be someone's garage. Probably Cloud's house. Maybe Leon's? I don't even know if he has other friends. He probably does. He seems pretty popular when I see him at school.

I just don't understand why he would like me, of all people. He can always have Cloud who is actually pretty hot, even if he is a giant douche. Cloud is one of the handsomest men I've ever met, probably ever will meet, and he's just _throwing _himself on Axel. Then there are all the girls at school who want him probably more than Cloud, but he kinda just ignores them and does his own thing. But, I mean, if he has all of them, why would he come after me? I'm not doing anything about it. It's not like I'm going to go out with him, even if I am starting to maybe like him a bit. He has to really like me if he puts up with my crap. He must really like me to keep a crush on me for all these years. And he must really like me if he has the balls to touch me this way.

His hand leaves the curve it had recently been settled in to move down to the small of my back, where my shirt is ridden up so that his hand is on my bare skin. It feels nice, warm, and even though I have this awful fever that's already overheating me, it's almost comforting.

I fall asleep after awhile, but it's one of those dreamless sleeps. One where I don't think or feel anything, but afterward when I wake up I feel _so good_, minus a slight headache and a still stuffed up nose. It's amazing what a body can do for itself when it's 'charging.' I detangle myself from Axel's arms a few minutes later. My room is dark now, the only lights coming from my computer monitor, the star field screen saver making my head sway from how quickly it's going, and a very light glow from my alarm clock on top of my dresser. Now it's almost twelve at night. I've slept the whole day away.

I can't believe Axel's still here. I'm pretty sure he's been with me this whole time, too, because we were in practically the same position we had been in earlier, before I sat up. The only difference was that his hand was more on my butt at that point instead of my back, the pervert.

I lay back down and stare at him through the darkness. My eyes had adjusted pretty quickly, so I can see alright now. He looks nice, peaceful. His hair is even messier now than it had been before, which is almost cute. I can hear his breathing through the silence of my room, light and in a pattern. I just stare at him, because it's just so rare to see him like this.

I watch his for awhile. Sure, I need to pee, and I should probably take some more of that medicine, but I don't want to get up. I don't want to wake him with all the motion getting up would cause. I just want to lay here with him.

And I do.

Does this count as cheating?

**~o~**

**Just a very, very short filler chapter, still counts as chapter twelve hehe.**

**Hope you guys liked. And this time, I really will update sooner. I've already gotten halfway through the next chapter. I like it, and I think you guys will, too.**

**See you soon!**

**Review!**


	13. Birthday

**Ah, poop guys I accidentally put 'last chapter' instead of 'next chapter' in the last one. This is not the last chapter, I'm still dragging this thing out. My mistake! Also, the word 'fuck' is used A LOT in this chapter. **

**~o~ Chapter thirteen! :D ~o~**

I'm Roxas Richards and today is my birthday.

Turning sixteen is one of the biggest birthday's in someones life, but I'm not really feeling it with all of the drama sprouting up, it's only gotten worse. Since Namine and I got together, things seem to have horrible. I mean, between everyone slapping me in the face with whore accusations about her, mostly from people I don't even know in class who just find out that we're dating, and Axel trying to rub his genitalia on my butt, the drama is just getting worse by the day. And now Sora is dragging me into his own drama with his own family and love interests, as if I don't have enough of my own. He doesn't mean to, but it's still there.

On top of all that, my mom is still mad at me for the whole hickey thing, and even though I've been out of Azkaban for almost three months now, she's still been subliminally stacking on the punishment. Axel and our dad just sit there and silently laugh at me while I do the tasks, like take the disgusting garbage to the big dumpster all the way at the end of the street, in hot California weather, or bathe the neighbors cat for them because she's 'too old and frail,' and it doesn't matter if he scratches me in a frenzy. She's even had me walk all the way down to the Walmart on Main, a forty minute walk, to get her some tampons, then makes me go back and return them for another box when I get the wrong ones. I mean, how am I supposed to know the difference between super and super plus? She wouldn't even let Axel drive me when he offered, because it's a waste of gas or something. He walked with me, though, which I have to admit was really sweet. She has yet to stop telling me every time I complain today that I shouldn't even be having this party and should still be grounded.

But, yeah. It's my sixteenth birthday and all I want to do is lay down and read or something. But no, my dad insists on a big party. Aren't I lucky? The correct answer would be no.

I woke up this morning with a headache, and heaved myself out of bed. There was a Scarface t-shirt of Axel's that got mixed up in my laundry on my computer chair that I've been meaning to give back to him, but I didn't feel like finding a shirt to wear so I just pulled it on. What could he possibly say? It was my birthday. Then I threw my door open and waddled into the hallway as I adjusted my boxers to cover me better. I almost fall twice because I just don't want to be up, and I just have no coordination in the morning. Everyone but Axel was in the kitchen, and a quick glance at the microwave told me that it was ten thirty-four on a Saturday morning. He wouldn't be up until past two on these days.

Dad put down the newspaper he was reading and smiled at me from the head of the table. "Well, hey there, birthday boy! You look _excited_."

I snort and pull out a chair, sitting down. I rub my face with my hands in an attempt to wake up a bit, but it's not working. My mom gives me a look from where she's making herself a cup of coffee and I take my elbows off the table, not wanting her to yell at me today. She will, just not yet.

"You need to RSVP for the party," she tells me, leaning against the counter. I groan.

"Or we could just not have the party at all?" I say. She glares at me and I shut up quickly.

I take a quick shower and when I get out there's a nice outfit waiting for me on my bed that my dad must have bought. It's simple, consists of a just a pair of dark jeans and a white Sublime t-shirt with a pair of new, black pair of black low top Vans. It's pretty basic, and _he's _the fan of Sublime, not me, but it's a nice gesture that he'd even put them out for me. And I know it's him, too, because there's a birthday card on my bed next to it with the words _FOR THE BEST SON IN THE WORLD _in bold text on the front and _FROM THE BEST DAD IN THE WORLD_ inside. I mean, how sweet is that?

I lag it back to the kitchen. Axel's been up for awhile now, and our parents are rushing around the kitchen to make all of the food. Axel is in the living room, laying about on the couch with his leg over the back, texting someone while Joshy watches TV. He's dressed and looks like he's about to go somewhere. When he sees me, he groans and sits up, saying, "You ready?"

My hair is still a bit wet, so I don't really want to go anywhere. "For what?" I ask.

He rolls his eyes and stands, putting his phone into the back pocket of his jeans. He walks past me and into the kitchen, talking as he walks, "We gotta go pick up your cake from Costco. Hey, Tifa, can I take the car?" He picks up the Prius key's from the key rack by the back door and jingles them. My mom gives him a look from chopping up potatoes and my dad looks up from the hamburger meat he's seasoning with a 'oh crap' face. Yeah, Axel's never asked to drive the family car before. "Please? It's good for the environment!"

My mom glowers at him and sets down her knife. After a moment, she sighs and says, "Fine. But _only _because it's good for the environment. I swear, though, if you get a scratch on it-!"

"Thanks!" Axel doesn't wait for her to finish and hops over to the garage door, throwing it open. I follow after him after awkwardly getting the money for the cake from my mom,

In the car, Axel plugged his phone into the AUX jack to play his 'sick tunes'. I stared at him a moment as some Indie band played through the speakers. Shouting over the music, I asked, "Sick tunes? Really?"

He ignored me, though, and mouthed the words of the song into my face with a look of 'nigga does it look like I care?'

I realize after awhile that we aren't going the normal way to Costco. I sigh and look at Axel, who's still mouthing the words to his music. He looks back at me for a moment before back on the road, where he narrowly missed running into a stop sign. I don't know why I get in cars with him. He couldn't drive to save his life. After my heartbeat slows down, I look back at him and say, "Where are we going?"

"We're eloping," he mocks. "I'm taking you to Mexico, and you're going to wear a maid outfit and call me 'big papa.'"

"Big papa," I say. "Where are we going?"

"Damn, I've never been so turned on. Call me that again."

"Will you answer my question if I do?" I ask.

"Yes."

"_Big papa_."

"We're going to pick up your friend."

"Which one?"

"You have more than one?" I slap his arm and he laughs. "Sora. I figured it'd be easier to just pick him up now, since we're in that part of town. Unless you don't want him to come, 'cause I don't care either way."

"Of course I want him to come," I say. "I just don't want Leon to. You didn't invite him, did you?"

He purses his lips. "Actually, your mom did. Well, I mean, she told me to. So I did. I mean, you don't have that many friends, _no offense_, so she just had me invite mine. For some reason, she thinks my friends are your friends, too. She don't know that you fucking _hate _them."

"I don't hate them," I sigh. I turn on the air conditioning because it's starting to get really hot out, and having the windows rolled down just isn't cutting it. Axel rolls up the windows and smiles at me, when he _should _be looking at the road. I just don't know how he hasn't gotten into a car accident yet.

"You don't? You sure act like it. I think they're cool, but you know, they're my friends so of course I do." He bumps me in the arm with his elbow. "You hate Cloud, though."

"Cloud's a bad person," I say.

We pull up to Sora's house and park on the curb. _On _the curb. He can't park, either.

Hopping out of the car, Axel walks over the grass while I walk up the driveway. When he gets to the door, he knocks rather harshly and we wait. Moments later, it's thrown open- thrown open!- and Leon stands on the other side. He leans on the door frame, yawning. He looks like he just woke up, with his hair everywhere, but he's dressed. "What?"

Axel smiles. "Did you just wake up?"

"I took a nap. So?" He narrows his eyes at us. I guess it doesn't matter that it's almost noon and way too early to be napping.

"Hey, man, I don't judge." Axel walked past him into the house and I followed after him nervously, nodding to Leon who keeps glaring at me. Axel's whistling as he strolls through, not a care in the world. "Where's your brother? Does he have no sense of time like you? I _told _him I'd be here by now."

"He's putting on his shoes." Leon crosses his arms, standing in front of the now closed door. Have I ever said how much he scares me? Yeah, I'm going to pee my pants if he keeps looking at me like that. He reminds me of Ted Bundy for some reason. Like he stalks people at night and uses his good looks to lure them to him. Axel leaves, walking into their kitchen and into their fridge, leaving me alone in the living room with Leon. I try to look at anything but him, like all of the pictures they have all over their walls, or the expensive looking furniture around their big plasma, but I can still feel his eyes on me. Oh, god, I wish Sora or Axel would come in here already!

Out of nowhere, Leon says, "Happy birthday."

I stare at him, openly shocked. I stutter out, "Oh, um, t-thanks, Leon..."

He shifts his weight onto his left side and continues to watch me. His eyes are really cold. He's actually a very cold person. I still don't understand what someone as happy and flamboyant as Sora is doing with a guy as cold and dull as him. Not that Leon isn't attractive, and I'm sure he has a good side, but Sora is just so _loud _and _bright_. They just don't fit. But, I guess opposites attract. I mean, Axel and I are as different as it gets.

Not that we attract.

At all.

Sora comes down the stairs first, and then Axel comes back from the kitchen with a bottle of Fiji water and two Hostess Cupcakes. He throws one of the plastic wrapped, chocolate love-cakes at me, which I catch rather clumsily as I hadn't known that he was going to be throwing it, and walks past me and out the front door.

As always Costco is as crowded as Disneyland. Axel flashes the Costco card at the lady at the door as we pass, and we're instantly assaulted by the air conditioned air of the warehouse. They always have it way too cold in here. We get in, grab the cake, and get out, only with minor injuries as Sora has no balance today and ended up bumping me, in which I _stomped _on Leon's foot. And then Sora ran into Axel and almost made him drop the cake. And then, on our way out, he knocked over a stand of oversized jars of peanut butter. We walked out really fast so that we wouldn't get in trouble, naturally. Okay, I know that Sora's clumsy, but he's never _this _clumsy. Something is throwing him off.

In the car, Sora went to answer his phone, almost dropped it, and flipped it in the air when he tried to catch it. Naturally, because Sora is about as clumsy as it gets, it flies to the front seat and hits me on the nose. I don't think any of them could have screamed any louder when Axel swerves from my first shout of pain and shock, almost running the car into the semi in the lane next to us. I swear to god, Sora could have broken my nose! I mean Jesus Christ, Sora has a Droid, and those phones are freaking _huge_. I start bleeding almost everywhere, so Axel has to pull the car over to get some of the napkins my mom always carries in the glove department, then pulls out the baby wipes. He leans around his seat to hold the tissue up to my nose and throws the baby wipes onto Sora's lap for me to use after I stop the bleeding to wipe off the blood. I take them from him with a glare at Sora, because that freaking _hurt_.

"Sorry," Sora blushes.

I just know that this isn't going to be the only time Sora hurts me today.

**~o~**

"Aw, Roxas! _Look at you_!"

"You haven't grown much at all!"

"I remember when you were just to my waist!"

"You don't _look _sixteen! Wow!"

Okay, I know that I'm short, okay? And I know that I have a baby face. I get it! See, this is why I didn't want a birthday party! These people make me angry, they're just so impolite and annoying. And they're _smothering me_ with their love. If I get any more cheek kisses, I'm going to scream.

I'm awkward, okay? And talking to these people who I haven't seen since my last birthday, who I don't even know, isn't what I wanted to do today. I'd much rather go out to dinner like we do on Axel's birthdays. But, _no_, little Roxas needs to see his family more often. I don't even get presents anymore. What's the point of having a bunch of people come if you only get moneyless birthday cards and gift cards to places you don't go to? Geeze, a dinner would have been nice.

Sora strolls over to me, typing into his phone with his right hand and holding a soda with the left. "Kairi and Namine are coming."

Oh, god. Just when I thought that today couldn't get any worse. I don't want either of them meeting my family. Especially Namine. The only reason I even let Sora come was because I've known him for years and he already met all of my family in elementary school. Heck, he's getting the same treatment as me, with the sugar coated 'you're small' insults and pinched cheeks. He's loving it, though. He's an attention hog.

"She _is _your girlfriend," Sora says, rolling his eyes at me. I was going to say something snippy at him, but then something catches his eye out the window behind me. I look over, confused and then get a sudden rush of excitement. He says, "Oh. My. _God_."

"_We got a bounce house_?! I could hear from the kitchen, and that was it. Axel was speed walking out of the kitchen towards me, his hands turning me around and then on my back. He starts pushing me towards the door, which I have to open, and then outside. The bounce house is glorious, with a basketball hoop and a slide. I don't care if I'm sixteen. This is the chizz. And who cares if my family is all here and my girlfriend is going to meet them? _I have a freaking bounce house_! This is the best day of my _life_! This boun che house is enough to prove to me that there is a god, and that he/she wants me to be happy.

I just really love bounce houses.

Sora is already pulling off his tie dye Toms, leaving on the American flag socks he was sporting. Leon comes out to follow us, but he doesn't look too thrilled about this. Not as much as we are. Or at all, for that matter. When Axel pushes me down on the bouncy entrance thing and takes my shoes off for me, and then hops around to take off his own, Leon just stands there. I really don't think he wants to be here. Not that I can blame him.

Sora's first in, then me, and Axel follows. Leon just sits outside on the entrance, probably hating life. I fall twice. Once because Sora falls back on me, and the second time because I lose my footing and fall on top of Axel. We laugh and I roll off of him and onto my back, both of us staring up at the ceiling. I'm already exhausted. Sora comes and lays on my other side, laying his hands on his stomach. Axel's shoulder is touching mine, but I don't have the energy to move.

"Fuck," Axel says, still short of breath. I think Sora is the only healthy one of our group, because he seems just fine. "Having fun takes a lot of work."

"Right?" I say.

Sora lifts himself up a bit to look towards the entrance for Leon, where he's still sitting on the outside of the entrance flaps, on his phone. Sora groans in exasperation and calls out, "Leon, come in! You're so _boring_!"

"No," Leon says firmly.

Sora sighs and leans back again, turning his head to me. In a low voice, he says, "We're fighting."

"You're _always_ fighting," I say back and Axel snorts a laugh.

We lay there for a few minutes, not talking. I almost fall asleep, but Sora's phone startles me because it's _so loud_ And then it's playing a song I haven't heard in years, so I have to spend extra energy trying to figure out what it is. It's not a surprise to me when I find out it's Ludacris's _Whats your fantasy_, because Sora has always been into bad music and dirty rappers.

He answers it, "Yeh? Yeh. Alright. We're in the bounce house." There's a pause. "_Yes_, there's a bounce house. What, you're too good for bounce houses? Haha, we're not_ that _old. Okay, cool. See you in a sec."

I really, really don't want them to meet my family. I feel like something bad is going to happen, and I know that Kairi will never let me hear the end of it. So, needless to say, when they show up and Sora rushes out to greet them (nearly knocking over Leon), I'm a little weary of their presence. The look that Axel gives Namine after we get out is so full of unmasked loathing that I almost feel bad, because she looks so uncomfortable. She looks _good_, but uncomfortable. Kairi glares back at him for her, but doesn't say anything.

After an awkward silence, Namine hands me a rectangular present gift wrapped in silver wrapping paper with a pink bow on top. I hesitantly take it, and looking at Axel to see his reaction I open it. After ripping it open, I find inside a book. Brand new and red, a yellow border surrounding it, JK Rowling's _a Casual Vacancy_ rests in my hand. I look back up at Namine and, sincerely, I say, "Thank you. I've been wanting to read this."

She blushes and pushes a lock of hair out of her face. "Yeah, uh, I thought you might like it. I didn't know what to get you- I didn't know it was your birthday, so I just stopped by Borders and got that..." She sticks her hands into her sweatshirt pocket and looks to Kairi. "Kairi got you something, too."

"Oh, yeah." Kairi digs into her oversized purse and pulls out a Video game, tossing it to me. I almost drop it in an attempt to catch it. "Yeah, I finished that forever ago, so I'm just giving it to you. I hope you have a 360."

Axel takes the game from me and starts reading the back. I look over to my house to see an aunt sticking her head out the door. Ah, crap, now they've seen them. I turn back to Namine and Kairi and, in a warning say, "Okay, so my family can be a _little _weird."

"_Very _weird," Axel says.

"_Outrageously _weird," Sora adds, proud of himself for using such a big word.

"Not _that _weird," Leon grumbles.

Axel led the way into the house, and Jesus Christ I don't want to be here any more than I did earlier. I had through that the day turned for the better when I found out about the bounce house, but now it's just back to 'when are these people leaving I have to pee can I go to sleep now.' I just want to go lay down and spend my whole birthday sleeping. But, no, I have to have a _party_. Namine takes my offered hand and we walk over and into my house. The looks I get make me want to hurl, and Axel snorts behind me and bumps my shoulder when he passes.

"Head down, walk fast," I whisper urgently to Namine, and she presses her side against mine as we walk, looking down at her feet. Smart girl. She knows that she is in the lion's den.

Axel was in the kitchen, digging around in the drawers, and my mom was at the counter with the cake. Axel must have been looking for the candles, because a moment later he lets out a 'ha!' of victory and holds out a multicolored candle box to my mom. One by one, she sticks them in the cake until there's sixteen. Then, satisfied, she puts her hand on her hips and says to Axel, "Go get everyone. We're doing the cake."

Axel groaned, but left. That's when my mom noticed us all, standing there on the other side of the counter. She narrows her eyes at us suspiciously, mostly because I haven't ever brought someone other than Sora to my house, and it's weirder that they're both girls. Sora hops over and starts eating the chips and dip by the sink, Kairi following him, while Namine and I stand at a face off with my mom. Finally, I sigh and say, "Mom, this is Namine. Namine, this is my mother."

"Oh, wow," Namine says. She leans forward over the island counter with her hand out to shake my mom's. My mom takes it reluctantly. "You're really, really pretty, Ms. Turk. Oh, geeze, it's nice to meet you. I'm sorry it took so long, Roxas just wouldn't let me come over."

My mom takes her hand back and subtly wipes it on her thigh. Oh, god, this isn't going to be pleasant. "Hm. I'm sure that's why." She puts the hand on her hip. "So, you're my son's girlfriend. Well, aren't you a lucky little girl. How old are you, Namine? Fourteen? You look fourteen."

Namine frowns. "Actually, I'm-."

People started coming into the kitchen and Namine was cut off by a 'the Almasy's are on their way.' Great. Today is the day I die.

You know that awkward moment when you have to sit there while everyone sings 'happy birthday' so you? Yeah, I'm sure that it makes me feel a lot more awkward than you. I mean, I have to be the most awkward person on the planet when it comes to this kind of stuff. At least Axel isn't throwing things at my face this year, or doesn't particularly look like he's going to shove my face into my cake again. He just stands there next to Leon, the two talking about something on the other side of the kitchen, way away from the group. Sora and Kairi are singing next to my dad, and Namine is taking pictures with her phone. And there's me, at the table and in the middle of the circle, just wanting this day to end, hating my life.

I wish for delivery from this party.

Then came the cards and my most sincere looking thanks. I feel like a fraud.

I don't eat any cake but I do take a slice and smash it a bit to humor my mom. I let one of my bigger aunts take it, because she doesn't want to go all the way back to the kitchen to get another slice, and I don't want to get up from the couch to throw it away. Namine just pokes at hers, which Kairi takes for her and devours, along with half of Sora's. That girl can put it away. Axel's on Tumblr on his phone, because we're never allowed to leave the parties until after everyone leaves. Leon looks like he wants to kill everyone. Sora and Kairi are just talking and talking, Sora braiding Kairi's hair on the side. I know I've already said this today, but god, I just want to _sleep_.

And then, as if my day wasn't bad enough, there they are. I could hear the music from their car from streets over, and as always they're late. He's laughing loudly when they get out of their car and she's following behind him, brooding. As soon as they come in the house, we hear their argument, about how she doesn't think he should play the music so loud, it's bad for the body, blah blah. He ignores her, because that's just what he does.

I know for a fact that my cousins Seifer Almasy and Quistis Trepe were not invited.

"Rox_as_!" Seifer shouts when he comes through the front door, his arms out and his voice changing octave. "Rocks ass. My main man. How's it goin'? Yeah, we heard there was a party, but our invitations must've gotten lost in the mail. Oh, here, we got you shit." He tosses a wrapped up box into my lap, a rather heavy box covered messily in Christmas wrapping paper, and I sigh. Seifer sneers at me and says, "Damn, man, you look like you need a nap. _Mr. Gumpykins_!" He leans down and pinches my cheek, and I've never had a stronger urge to bite someone in my life. I just swat his hand away.

Everyone on the sectional couch is staring at him while his sister slinks away behind him. Naturally, I'm glowering, and so is Leon, Sora and Kairi lose interest quickly and go back to whatever they were doing. Axel is gawking, though, for some reason. I don't know why, I don't care. Seifer watches me until I rip off the wrapping paper and oven the cardboard box. I sigh away my annoyance and roll my eyes when I see that the box is mostly just bubble wrap. No wonder it was so big. I throw the bubble wrap out and Sora and Kairi immediately snatch some up to pop. The presents are at the bottom; a box set of four books, a Team America DVD and a can of spray cheese. I lift up the Easy Cheese and frown.

"Is this chee-."

"Yes." He has on a serious face.

"Oh my god," I lightly chuckle. "I've always wanted one. Thank you."

Seifer waves his hand dismissively. "You can just call me your dark lord Seifer from now on as a thanks, nothing big." He looks to Axel and puts his hand out for him to shake. "Hey, you must be the stepbrother. What's good, man?"

"I follow your blog," Axel says.

Seifer nods with a face of approval. "The stepbrother has good taste. Are these your friends? I mean, I didn't know you had any, to be honest." Always so insulting. Kairi catches his eye as she's popping madly at the bubble wrap. He immediately takes a seat in the gap between her and Sora, and Sora scoots over. He takes Kairi's hand, leaving the other to hold up the deflated plastic. "Hey there. I'm Seifer Almasy. Not to toot my own horn, but I'm Tumblr popular."

"I like pussy," Kairi says, taking her hand back. Well, that's new.

"So do I," Seifer nods. He leans over her to Namine and shakes her hand. "I'm Seifer. And you're Namine, right? I saw you on Facebook, in a relationship with my little baby cousin here. Anyway, Roxas, my mom's coming, too. She's just really late because she's retarded as fuck. Hey, I'm gonna go socialize. Gotta go promote human rights." He slaps my leg and gets up, winking at Kairi who snorts.

"See, that's why I became a lesbian," Kairi grumbles. "So that cute guys can be interested in me _after _I decide I don't like guys. Fuck my life."

**~o~**

Seifer was, in fact, promoting human rights. For the next hour, he went from family member to family member with the same lines. "Hey, family member so-and-so! You know, there's a few controversies in America that I would like to talk to you about. What do you think about web censoring? And the death sentence? Oh, really? And how about birth control and abortion? In fact, what do you thing about _Obama_? Huh. Yeah, I can see that. You seem like the type. Oh, that's what you believe? I guess Mitt Romney was a good vote for you, then! Have a nice time with your narrow mind." Then he moves on to the next one, and the next one. This is what he does every party. He comes up with a scenario and asks everyone their opinion on it, and that's how he decides which family members he likes for the time being. It's always funny to watch people get mad at him, and this is why he isn't invited to parties and stuff. Because he comes, there just to bug people, his sister only gets looked down upon for whatever reasons, and then his mother comes like a tyrannical whirlwind and is more often than not drunk. Axel's met her, but it's kind of funny that he's never met Seifer. Of course, the only time we see him is at other family member's parties, which Axel bails out on because he has no interest in my family. So, it does make sense.

And then his mom pulls up in her shiny new Prius, taking off her sunglasses and flipping her long, blonde hair on her way in. This one is Celes Chere. Yeah, they all have different last names because Celes got around. She's my second cousin or something, my mom's cousin, and I try to avoid her as much as possible. She's really cold and calculating, and her heels are too pointy. Seifer immediately stops his conversation with one of our older second uncles and curses when he sees her. He said, "I thought you weren't coming 'till later."

"And I thought that you would turn out better." She walks over to where I was trying to be invisible next to the fire mantle and takes my soda from my hand, taking a drink. Namine tries to hold in a life at the face that I make. Celes then pats my shoulder, her lipstick making marks on the can and hands it to Seifer who had come over. She looks at him. "Good kid, this one. Why couldn't you have turned out like this, huh?"

"Well, fuck me sideways," Seifer replies. "Sorry being so fucked up. I don't know _what _could have possibly happened to me."

Every time. See, this is another reason we don't invite them places! All they do is fight and take jabs at each other. I mean, do you know how uncomfortable it is to be in the middle of these two? And it's always been like this, even when Seifer and I were kids. He's had a potty mouth since second grade, and I was just there getting a slap on the hand for repeating things that he said. That's probably why I don't really cuss, to be honest. His mom jut doesn't care anymore. She's young, and she had him and his sister in her teens, so she probably was just too immature to know how to be a mother. It just followed her into adulthood.

"Where's your mother, Roxas?" she asks me, looking around the living room. She doesn't notice the weary looks they're getting.

"Probably out back," I say.

She takes a hold of my wrist. "Alright, let's go." I get dragged behind her while Namine follows awkwardly behind me.

I look back at Sora and Kairi desperately, but they don't notice me. They still haven't ran out of bubble wrap, that's how much Seifer put in the box. When we pass Axel and Leon, Axel looks at Celes, and then to me and mouths, "What the fuck is she doing here?"

I shake my head and let out a noise of despair, and mouth back "_Help me_!"

They start to follow, too.

"Mom," Seifer snaps at her when we get outside. "Don't drag him around! He can walk on his own!"

"Gettin' real tired of your shit, Seifer," she says. My mom is sitting at the picnic table with her parents when we walk out. As soon as she sees Celes walking towards her, she looks around for an escape, but knows that it's too late to get away when Celes gushes out, "Tifa! Damn, you got big. Are you pregnant again?"

What is with these guys and insulting us?

She pulls me up to her side and throws her arm around my shoulders. My mom looks more angry than when she saw my hickey, but Celes just goes on talking. I really just don't like this woman. All of the bad memories of my childhood flow back, when she would babysit me while my mom was at work, and Seifer would put gum in my hair and push me off the swing set, and she would spank him with the paddle, which was a Home Depot pain stick and rather large to be hitting a kid with. Quistis would hide in closets and under cabinets with a flashlight to get away and read. Sometimes, Celes would bring her work up and just lock Seifer and I into a bedroom with the TV on so we wouldn't hear what she did, and he would tickle me until I threatened to pee my pants. He hates pee, so it always worked.

Seifer pulled me away from her and behind himself as if that would save me. I am beyond saving. I should have hid better when I saw her coming, maybe behind a couch or a fat uncle or something. Seifer snaps at her, calling her some inappropriate words, and she snaps back. Same old thing. This is my childhood all over again.

"You know what, fucker," Celes snaps at him and snatches me back when I had finally gotten my wrist out of Seifer's iron grip. "I'm just trying to spend time with my cousin. If you don't like it then you can fuckin' leave."

Seifer lets out a fed up groan and I know what he's going to say. We _all _know what he's going to say, save for our friends because they don't know how these two work. My mom jumps up with her hands in front of her, ready to say for me that it's okay if my cousin holds me against my will and that I like it, but it's too late. Seifer says, "_No one likes you_!" And it's over. There goes my last hope for this party to be normal.

I don't think I've every seen anyone get angrier faster than Celes. Her eyes fly wide, her mouth juts up, she puts her hand out as if she doesn't believe what she heard. Her voice is now high pitched and loud, and she practically screams, "What the_ fuck _did you just say?" She snaps. "I'll have you know, you little fucker, that no one likes _you_. You're the asshole here."

I don't think that there is anything more awkward than being in between an argument, especially one this full of heat and cussing, and when you have friends over _on your birthday_. I am going to just cry right now, because I don't want to be here, and I don't want my friends to see my family, and I just don't want to have this stupid party. Namine walks away quickly and stiffly to stand in the general area near Axel and Leon, but I'm almost pressed up against the table, behind Seifer and his mother as they argue back and forth. I'm going to cry, _I'm going to cry_. I bite it back, but I'm going to cry.

"Can I, um..." I try to cut in, moving uncomfortably. Nope, no way out. "Can I get through? I don't really want to be in the, uh... middle..."

Seifer hears me that time and snarls at his mother. "Move, woman! Ain't nobody got time for this!"

Who would have thought that Seifer would save my life today? On _any _day? Even if he's half the reason I was cornered in the first place, I'm thankful that he stopped the argument long enough for me to escape. It started back up immediately after I got away, but it was a nice gesture. Everyone starts to migrate inside, and Namine looks horrified. Oh, god, my life really sucks right now. I groan and look over to Axel, who looks really annoyed by this whole thing. He's probably even more done than I am, with that face. Leon looks slightly amused, however, and much brighter than earlier when he looked like he wanted to stab himself to get out of this party. I really, really don't like him at this point.

"I am so done," I mutter as we walk back into the house. Namine automatically goes into the living room and sits next to her sister, who is _still _popping my bubble wrap with Sora. They just really don't care. Axel throws his arm around my shoulder and I lean down from his weight.

He says, "Well, at least _one _good thing came out of today."

"And what is that?" I ask.

He opens the front door and we both walk out, alone, away from the party. "I got you a present."

We're not alone after all, because Cloud is out here, sitting on the tailgate of his truck, which looks new and kind of irritates me. He gives me a look of utter loathing and hops off, but I'm not paying him any mind because in his arms is the cutest puppy I've ever seen in my life! It's a small English Bulldog with light brown eyes, and it's excess skin is jumbled up with a large brown spot on it's backs on on both of it's ears. Cloud holds it out to me by the scruff of it's neck, and I take it and hold it up to see it's face.

"Ooh~!" I gush, hugging it to my chest. "Oh my god, this is the cutest lil thing I've ever seen!"

"I _told _you he'd like it," Axel says to Cloud who snorts and looks at me again. Oh, god, he hates me.

"Well," he said. "Just make sure that dog doesn't die. I have a lot of personal business with the breeder."

Axel looked down at me, but right now I don't care about them or how rude Cloud's being because I have a _freaking puppy_! And she- I found out she was a girl by the lack of male genitalia- is sweet and keeps trying to lick my face and bite my hands. Axel's addressing me, though, so I look up at him for a moment to show that I'm listening, but then go back to the puppy.

"It took me like, four months to convince our parents to let me get her for you. I had her picked out and everything. Got her from the same breeder that Cloud got his dogs from. Got a discount." He wiggles his eyebrows. "And you know how much big papa loves discounts."

I smile and set the dog down when she starts wiggling. Then I hug him, because I am utterly thankful, and I let him hug me back. This time. I even allow myself to indulge in his smell, and how warm and nice his hugs are, because heck. It's my birthday. I even get a nice bit of satisfaction when we pull away and I see the face of hatred he gives me, with a crinkled, snarl ravened nose. I like that he hates me, because it just proves that I have one up on him with Axel.

Not that whatever Axel and I have is a good thing, I just like to see Cloud cringe.

"Anyway," Cloud says with an aggravated sigh. He digs into his pocket and pulls out some folded up papers, handing them to Axel. Axel then hands them to me. "Those are her dog license, shot records and papers. Axel, you have her tags, right? Okay, good. Don't fuck this up, Richards. My boss is really serious about his dogs, and I don't need one of them dying because he'll ask me about it and he knows when I'm lying."

"I'm not gonna let a dog _die_," I say, rolling my eyes. How does a dog even die? What, do I forget to feed it? She has all her shots, and it's not like she can get out of our house or back yard and get hit by a car.

He looks like he wants to say something, but bites his tongue and looks to Axel, his jaw set. Axel gives him a look and he sighs, defeated, but doesn't look at me and just sets a hand on his hip and looks down at the dirt. "Yeah, well, happy birthday and shit. I'm gonna leave now, hope you get everything you wished for, blah blah."

When Cloud leaves, I find the ability to thank Axel properly, with another hug and a verbal thank you this time. I have to pick up the dog because she doesn't just follow, and when we get back into the house Sora takes her from me and he and Kairi proceed to scream in excitement. Axel walks behind me as I avoid eye contact with any family member, and I pass a very steamy Seifer, who's eating a slice of cake that he had peeled off of his shirt- which was a #Swag shirt, so I suppose it got what was coming to it- and talking to Leon at the kitchen table. Celes was ranting at my mom in the backyard, and she was also covered in cake, but she wasn't eating it. It's actually kind of gross that Seifer is, because that had to have just been a random piece of cake that was sitting on the picnic table when his mother must have thrown it at him.

Axel sits in the chair next to him, leaving me to the chair next to Leon, and he scoots away from me a bit when I sit. He hates me, too. Oh, well.

"What's up, my main men?" Seifer asks, chewing. I cringe.

I say, "I've always hated the way you ate, Seifer. You're like a cow chewing cud."

"You used to spit you juice back into your cups," he accuses playfully.

"It added flavor."

"Oh my god," he laughs. He makes a face and starts to wipe off the cake smear from his shirt with a napkin he'd gotten out of the napkin holder. Axel made it his freshman year in wood shop, but my mom only puts it out when we have people over so that they think our parents care about the things we make them. Seifer lets out a odd whine, giving up and throwing the napkin on the table top. "I liked this shirt! Fucking bitch, man..."

I sigh. "It says 'Swag' and has a mustache under it."

"I know! Isn't it cool?" He pulls on the fabric and pulls on a frown. "I got this shit from . Do you know how expensive that place is? _Very_ expensive! Burger king don't pay me enough to just be throwing money away..."

People are leaving now, praise the lord. And after the whole fight and Celes started moving from woman to woman, people who would normal stay until late at night are saying their goodbyes. I get more cheek kisses than I can count, and promises of visits that they'll hopefully forget about. These people make me tired, and I'm really glad that my mom isn't like other people and doesn't try to stay in touch with our family. And when they're all gone, I can push my friends out the door and go upstairs to die. Yes, that's my plan.

Quistis, who had been standing awkwardly by a tree in the back, walks into the kitchen stiffly. She walks over and stands next to Seifer, leaning down a bit to say something in a low voice. When she stands up, she adjusts her glasses. Seifer smiles up at her, patting the small of her back, and says, "Yeah, I forgot about that. We'll leave in a sec. But first..." He takes out his phone and unlocks the screen, then looks at Axel. "I need your Tumblr," then to Leon, "And your number."

My mom comes in before they leave, prying herself from Celes, and kisses both of them on the cheeks. At the door, she puts her hands on Seifer's shoulders and says, "You better come visit, okay?" She sends a look over her shoulder. "Just don't tell your mother before you come over."

He snorts and glares in the general direction of the back. "I don't even know how she found out about this. I think she goes through my phone when I set it down."

My mom takes his face now and kisses his forehead. "You can always come stay with us, Seifer."

"Only if I can bring my cat." He smiles, but only for a second because he sees Celes next to me, trying to give me a goodbye. "Cel, come on. We gotta pick up Rai. He better be wearing a shirt this time, or I swear to fu-," he catches my moms eye. "Fudging gosh, I won't do anything about it. It's his choice. 'Kay, by all!"

My mom waves and closes the door after them. She turns to Axel and I, then looks to the dog in my arms (I had to pry her out of Kairi's hands), then back up at us. "It's drooling."

"Ah, crap!" I try to wipe the drool off of my sleeve on Axel. He makes a face and looks at his own sleeve. "We can be drool buddies."

"That's, uh..." My mom pauses, then walks past us, not saying anything else.

Now almost everyone is gone, and Leon and Sora say their goodbyes and Axel takes them home. Namine and Kairi, however, stick around for a bit. We all stand in a circle in my living room, and it's getting dark outside. They're waiting for one of their parents to pick them up or something, I don't know. My dog is asleep on the couch, my parents are cleaning up the kitchen, Joshy was put to bed and I'm tired as hell.

I say, "So, uh, yeah. I'm sorry about my family. And that I didn't invite you guys. And that my mom called you fourteen. You don't look fourteen..."

Namine smiles and pushes my shoulder lightly. Kairi lets out an 'aw, shucks,' and punches my other shoulder. It kind of hurt. Kairi says, "It ain't no thang, chicken wang. But, hey, we all gotta talk. Because there's some serious things going on right now in my family. Namine, do you want to tell him?"

"I guess..." She hesitates and puts her hands into the back pockets of her jeans. The pause is long as she thinks, her face scrunched up a bit. "Okay, well, our parents are kind of going through it, and... Um, they don't really trust me, or let me leave the house too often. And they caught me sneaking out, and they were really mad, and I guess that was the last straw for them. And our brother is coming back from his tour of duty soon, but he lives in Oregon. Well, uh, they want me to go stay with him when he gets back. It's kind of official, they just need his okay."

"Wait," I say, trying to comprehend it. "So, you're moving?"

"Being _sent away_," Kairi corrects. "Moving is a choice. This is like banishment."

Namine gives her a look, and then looks back at me. "Well, yeah, I'm moving. But I have a few months here. But we can't date after I move, long distance relationships are too hard."

"So you're breaking up with me."

"No!" She sighs and takes my hands. "No, I'm not _breaking up with you_. You know how much I like you, even if you can be a butt sometimes. I'm still here until the end of the school year. I just don't think that after that we should date. It wouldn't be fair to you, baby."

"Yeah," I agree. "It wouldn't."

Could this day be any worse? I mean, come on! There was a bounce house and I got a dog, sure, but Jesus, today sucks. I want to cry, I think that's what I'm going to do when they leave. Just go lay down and cry. For a week. A month. Maybe the rest of my life. Maybe I'll get lucky and I'll slip into a coma, and when I wake up there'll be a new president, one who doesn't let girlfriends move away and break your heart. This is why I didn't vote for Obama (not that I can vote)! He has no laws protecting boys from their girlfriend's heartless parents.

"You're mad," she states. Gee, what would have given that away? "I'm sorry, Roxas. It's not like I can control what my parents do."

I take my hands back and cross my arms, letting out a frustrated sigh. "Yeah, I know. Sorry. It's just... God, this sucks. Today sucks."

"I know, baby." She cups my cheek and runs her thumb along my cheek bone. There's a honk outside and Kairi groans. Namine sighs and kisses me. "That's our parents. Gotta go." She kisses me again and I lightly wave them off as they leave.

I grab my dog and walk quickly to my room, before anyone can stop me. Putting her on my bed, I lay face down into my pillows. I leave my shoes and clothes on, the lamp on my desk the only light now that the sun has gone down. Everyone took so long to leave, and I have decided that I will never see any of them willingly again, save for my friends. If my mom asks me if I want to go to aunt so-and-so's house for blah blah, I will say no, I am busy doing made up things.

There's a knock on my door and I groan. When it's pushed open, and the person closes the door and jumps on my bed after they've come in, I know that It's Axel. I don't move, save for a little nudge I attempt to give him with my right leg. He laughs and scoots closer to me,throwing an arm around my waist. "Happy birthday."

I go to push him away, but my hand only lands on his face and just kind of stays there, because I don't have the energy to move it, nor do I want to. He has nice skin, okay? He rubs the small of my back, then asks, "Are you okay?" I shake my head. "What's wrong? Was it Namine? 'Cause I'll cut a bitch." I sob loudly into the pillow and move my arms underneath it to push it closer to my face. I knew I was going to cry today. Jesus, I cry way took often in front of Axel. His hand now moves from my lower back to my upper and he leans into my, his face nuzzled up against the side of mine. "Hey, what's up? Come on, I don't even know what you're crying about half the time! It was Namine, wasn't it? Did she break up with you or something?"

I wail into the pillow, trying to choke out a 'she's moving', but it's inaudible. I trail off into more sobs. He hugs my back, partially laying on me, and leans his head on the back of my shoulder. He doesn't say anything, just lets me cry, until I'm done a few minutes later and just staring at my door. I would have still had my face in my pillow mountain, but the pillow my head is on is covered in tears, and I needed to breath at some point. Finally, with his weight on my and my face dried, I say, "Namine's moving."

"Aaw, did she break your little heart?" He catches himself and says, "Wait, sorry. Are you okay? Need anything?"

"I need you to get off my back." Literally. He laughs and rolls off onto his back, and I roll onto mine so that I'm staring up at my ceiling.

He says, "Well, I'm a little upset, too."

I smile, because I know what's coming. "Why?"

"Why the hell didn't you tell me your cousin is _Seifer _fucking _Almasy_?!" He goes onto his side and leans his head into his hand, his elbow on my pillows. I turn my head and chuckle. "I mean, you would think that would come up in a conversation. 'Oh, hey, Axel! By the way, since you love Tumblr so much, my cousin is Tumblr famous!'"

"Tumblr _popular_," I correct.

"'Tumblr popular,'" he mocks. "Yeah, well, you'd think it'd come up on the first date."

I run a hand down my face, unable to hold back my smile. "We don't date."

"Speaking of dating..." He suddenly rolls on top of me, making my new puppy jump in surprise and scuttle onto my pillows. She settled into a crevice. Axel straddled me, and I could only stare for a moment, shocked. "You never got your birthday kisses!"

"W-wait-!" I go to push him off but he takes my wrists and kisses both of my palms.

"One, two..."

Maybe I'll get lucky and he'll forget how to count again.

My right wrist now, "Three, four..." Then all of my fingers on my left hand, "Seven, eight, nine..." My shoulder, my collar bone, and my neck... "Twelve..."

And then my face. A kiss on both of my cheeks, and my forehead. That's fifteen. One more. My heart flutters, and my face is hot. I bite my lip and put my hands on his chest, and for a moment I think that I might let him do it- I'm going to let Axel kiss me. Oh, god, where are my senses today? I'm just tired, I've been crying... My feelings are hurt and I'm going to lose my girlfriend. I'm confused and I just don't know what to do at this point.

"Axel, don't," I sigh, but I honestly don't make an effort to stop him at all. He still has his hands holding my wrists, and he holds them to his chest, and he's been in between my legs since the first few kisses and I attempted to struggle. I'm on pillow mountain so I'm sitting up, and my bed smells like him now. I know I bring up his scent all the time, but it just does something to me. I love it. "Axel, come one, you shouldn't..."

"I _should_," he says and leans into me. God, he's slow, and he tilts his head. And his forehead presses against mine, and then his lips, and with that, Axel kisses me.

I don't kiss back at first, naturally. I mean, I have a girlfriend, and I'm straight. Bi-curious. Bisexual. Maybe I'm pan-sexual, maybe I don't have a sexuality, maybe I just don't care. Right now, all I can think about is how soft and warm Axel's lips are, and I kiss him again. And again. We're not making out, just kissing, our eyes closed. If I'm lucky, this will be a dream and I'll wake up in the morning and just kind of hate myself. I bite my lip and it hurts, so I know that it isn't a dream and that I didn't just fall asleep earlier when I threw myself in my bed. I'm really kissing Axel and you know what? I don't care.

I'm a cheater, and I don't care.

"Oh, god," I groan and run both of my hands down my face.

I _do _care.

"'Oh god'?" he asks, frowning. "What?"

I don't move my hands from my face, just lean into them. I want to cry again, this is too much. "Jesus, Axel, I have a girlfriend. Just... God. I don't even know how to feel about this."

He sighs and sets his jaw. "You don't know how to feel about _anything_. Like, ever." When he gets off of my bed, I watch him fix his shirt and adjust his flannel. He doesn't look at me when he walks out and slams my door shut. He hates me. And I don't blame him.

But whether he hates me or not is not the issue at the moment. I kissed him. I kissed him, and I liked it, and even though he threw a fit, I still have butterflies in my stomach. Kissing Axel was nothing like kissing Namine. It was like an explosion, but at the same time all of my senses were numb. Kissing Namine is just kissing, making out. It doesn't do too much to my body other than the fact that she always tastes really nice.

But, with Axel...

Whoa.

I've never experienced anything like that before.

And, you know what?

I think I like Axel.

**~o~**

**A/N**

**Look, guys! Look what I gave you! A present!**

**Naturally, being as into politics as I am, I decided to update after I found out who won the election. As you can imagine, I am ecstatic. :D**

**Anywho~! I made this chapter long for you guys to make up for my long absence before chapter twelve, and also how short that chapter was. I hope you guys liked it!**

**Review!**


	14. Sora's House

**~o~ Chapter fourteen, which has a lot of _italics _hurr hurr~o~**

I'm Roxas and today I'm staying the night at Sora's house.

Spending the night at Sora's was definitely not what I was planning on doing this weekend, but he just _begged _and _begged _for me to come over. I just really don't like being at his house. There's too much yelling and Sora just doesn't sleep, and knowing that Leon is in the room next door scares the living heck out of me. That guy is just scary. And the fact that Axel is staying the night too just makes things worse, because since the whole party thing, he's been avoiding me at all costs. Like, I was just derping around the kitchen at twelve in the morning because I really wanted some pudding and he walked in for whatever, he immediately walked back out. It really hurt my feelings, but I can't say that I didn't deserve it.

He and Leon stay outside in the Van while Sora escorts be into his home. I shiver as soon as I walk in because it is so dang cold in here. I know that it's starting to warm up outside, but geeze! Does their house have to be Antarctica? There's a limit to how cold a house should be! And on top of it, this house just doesn't give off the homey vibe _at all_. Like, it doesn't have that welcoming vibe that every other house has. It's just a house, with walls and furniture.

"What happened to all the pictures?" I ask, looking at the bare walls of the house. There used to be pictures _everywhere_, as if that would make the house seem more family centered.

He looked up at the white walls, probably not noticing the absence of the framed photos until right now. Taking my backpack from me, he says, "Oh, yeah. Gorilla Joe threw a fit and knocked them all down." We walked up the stairs and then down a few doors until we reached his room at the end of the hall. When he opened the door, he threw my bag onto his big bed and looked up at me. "Do you want to watch a movie? Or we can work on our history project. Ooh! Or we can do both at the same time! Hold on, I'll go get my Hunger Games DVD from Leon's room. BRB!"

Sora left, closing the door behind himself. I sat awkwardly on the end of edge of the bed, looking around the room. It changes every time I come over, and is now painted five different colors, a different color on each wall and the ceiling. Red for the one with the doorway, and going clockwise turns to orange, green, blue and then a black ceiling with those stick on, glow in the dark stars littering it. He has new dressers and a desk, also different flamboyant colors, and new posters ranging from the Avengers to Twilight. Sora's interests sure do vary.

When Sora gets back, he puts the DVD into his Playstation 3 and turns on his flat screen.

"Oh my god, I love this movie," he gushes.

I start to pull out the papers for our project from my backpack. He leans over the headboard to get his Macbook from off of his dresser and sets it out in front of himself. As the movie starts, we start writing about former president FDR, who Sora still has no idea even existed. How can he not know anything about one of the greatest presidents we've ever had? I got bored pretty quickly. I finished the outline, my job, like twenty minutes ago and Sora still hasn't finished reading over the Wikipedia page.

Axel and Leon are in his room next door. Over the sound of our movie, which is really loud, I can hear the song they're playing. I don't know what it's called, but I know that it's by Limp Bizkit. Sora's parents must not be home, because they're pretty strict about noise.

"Where are your parents?" I ask him.

He hums to himself, closing the Wikipedia page. "Laddi is off being hoe somewhere, and the step is still at work. Hey, are you hungry?"

Sora's kitchen is at least two of my own. Everything is a wash of white, red and stainless steel, and clean down to the last crevice. He throws the large Kenmore fridge open to reveal it's abundance of food. He says, "Mmh, we don't have much." He looks it over and hums again. "We can make nachos. We got this organic cheese that's to _die _for."

I don't need to answer because he starts pulling the nacho ingredients out and throwing it all together on a large plate. Then the plate, filled with a half bag of tortilla chips and almost a whole block of cheese, gets put into the microwave.

"I gotta piss," Sora says, leaning on the island counter in the middle of the kitchen. It comes up to his mid back. "Watch the food?"

Again, he doesn't wait for my answer. Oh, well. I lean against the counter where he was and watch the cheese on top of the chips start to melt. Dubbing it good enough, I press the END button and leave the plate inside. Sighing, I lean back over the counter and stare up at the ceiling. I wanna be home. I'm bored, and Sora's taking forever because the bathroom he likes is in the guest house out back, and he takes a year to wash his hands.

I hear footsteps coming from upstairs and look over to the doorway. Leon stalks into the kitchen, Axel whistling and following behind him. I watch them as they go to the fridge. Just like his brother, Leon says, "We don't have much."

Axel and I exchange a look and I snort back a laugh because the last thing I need is to laugh at Leon in a kitchen full of sharp things. Axel looks back at him and says, "Yall got more food right now than we get all month. And we ain't too bad off."

Leon cracks a smile, but then he sends me a glance and it's gone. Sora comes in a bit after, wiping his wet hands off on his pants. He looks up at the guys on his way over to me. "Hey..." He pulls out the nachos and starts eating them. Leon pulls out two of their fancy TV dinners and puts them both in the oven. Sora glowers at him as he chews, and Leon glares back.

"What?" Leon finally snaps.

Sora brings his hand up to push his bangs into a more comfortable spot on his face. "You know, Leon, it's nice for you to be home today. For once."

Leon looks pissed at whatever that means. Axel let's out a 'ooh' and strolls over to stand next to me. This is the kind of think he enjoys on TV.

Sora retorts, "Who's house were you at, Leon? Cloud's? Or was it your new little whore's?"

"Last time I checked, _he _wasn't the whore here. But, thanks. It's so sweet of you to be concerned."

"You know, I fell down the stairs."

"And I wasn't there to catch you?" He puts a hand to his chest in mock sympathy. "What a shame. Well, maybe you be be less clumsy."

"What the fuck is that supposed to mean?!" Sora shouts suddenly, hitting his hand against the counter top. Axel's smile grows, but I jump because it startled me.

Leon crosses his arms, his eyes as cold as usual, no expression on his face. "I'm just saying that you run your mouth a lot, and sometimes you bring it on yourself."

Sora looks incredulous, shocked. "So now it's _my _fault?" His palm is turning pink from where he'd hit it. He seems on the verge of tears, and his voice has definitely dropped a few octaves. His voice cracks, "I don't do anything different from you, Leon. If anything, I'm much quieter and know how to stay out of the way. I don't know why I get the ass end of the stick on everything."

Okay, so I have no idea what's going on. I look up at Axel for answers, and he looks at me with raised eyebrows. He whispers, "You don't know?"

"Know what?" I whisper back.

He sighs and shakes his head, looking to Sora as he throws away the uneaten food. "You better talk to your best friend."

**~o~**

After the awkward outburst in the kitchen, Sora had grabbed my hand and pulled me away to his room. The Hunger Games has long since ended, along with the Dark Knight and half of Sea Biscuit, and Sora hasn't said much. Nothing stupid, nothing funny, just things on our project. On the part of the movie where Tobey McGuire gets taken to the hospital, Sora suddenly bursts into tears.

I've always envied Sora for his cry. God, what I would give to be a cute crier, with how much I've been crying lately. Especially in front of Axel, because it's kind of embarrassing to look back on how many times I've cried in front of the guy I like. Sora has these cute little sobs and cries into his hands. He whines something out that I don't hear, and I scoot closer to put my hand on his back. He leans against me and sobs loudly, wrapping his arms around me to cry into my chest. Jesus, is this what Axel feels with me? Because this is awkward.

"Whats wrong?" I ask, my voice soft. I reach over with a bit of difficulty to grab the remote and mute the TV so that now the only sounds are Sora crying, me trying and failing to get him to stop, and the distant sound of music that's now coming from the living room.

Sora cries for about ten minutes, to the point of which he has no more tears to shed and his throat has gone raw. His face is puffy and bloated now, and he pulls away from me to lay back on all of his pillows. I scoot up beside him, waiting for him to say something, but he doesn't. So I push some hair off of his face and ask, "Do you wanna talk about it?"

"Yes," he sniffles and pulls his mouth into a tight frown. He looks like he's going to cry again. "But I can't..."

"Yes, you can. Come on. I won't tell anything. Is it Leon?"

He lets out a dry sob and shakes his head, so I go on.

"Riku?"

Another shake of his head, with a slight snort.

"Your parents?"

He pauses. "No."

"Don't lie, Sora. What did they do? Are you in trouble? Did something happen?"

He looks me right in the eyes and lies to me. "It's not them." He sits up now. His eyes are red and bloodshot and his face is pale, drained. His hair is a mess, his clothes are askew, and I can see the hand mark bruises on his upper arm where his baseball tee had ridden up. Perfect little Sora doesn't look so perfect anymore. I've never really thought about his problems, to be honest. I guess I've always seen his life as perfect because of his money, personality and looks. Obviously, I was wrong.

"Sora," I say, completely serious. I set a hand on his knee and force him to meet my eyes again. "What's wrong?" When he just stares at me, I say, "You're my best friend, Sora. Tell me."

Sora bites his lip, and his eyes move as he watches me. Finally, he sighs and says, "Promise you won't tell anyone."

"I won't."

"I _mean _it, Roxas. Not _anyone_. It's really personal, okay? Like, only your brother knows, and that's because Leon told him."

I push off the fact that he called Axel my brother. That's when Sora told me the worst thing he could ever say.

"My step dad beats me."

I stare at him for awhile, processing what he'd just said. I open my mouth to say something, but I have nothing to say. Because this is the most unbelievable thing I've ever heard. I knew that Sora's ho,e life wasn't the best, but I just figured there was a lot of yelling. I've noticed Sora's bruises and black eyes, But I always thought that they were from all the fights he gets into, or just general clumsiness. It has never occurred to me that he gets _beaten_.

And that really hurts me, because what kind of friend am I?

How does someone reply to something like that? Am I supposed to apologize, hug him, hold him, and apologize more? _What _am I supposed to say? Being completely honest, everything I know about this kind of stuff I get off of bad TV. Obviously, soap operas aren't good sources for how to act in social situations. So, I do the only thing I can think of doing. I hug him. I hug him, and hold him, and run my hand down the back of his hair. I don't think that he could have clutched to me tighter.

"I'm sorry," I say, and I can't say it enough. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry..."

I just hold my best friend after that, while it gets completely dark on. And then he falls asleep, and I lay down with him and we sleep on top of our work and blankets.

**~o~**

I jump awake when there's a loud slam, Sora's computer falling off of the bed and onto the floor. The bed is a mess and our papers are everywhere and crushed. We had to type them up, anyway, so it's not too big of a deal. Sora's still asleep, all he did was grunt and roll over to face the wall. I have to pee, so I groan and rub my face before standing up. I'm sure to put the laptop on his desk before walking to the door and into the hallway. If I remember correctly, there's a bathroom by the stairs. It must be late because Leon and Axel are asleep (I'm just guessing from the lack of noise), but I can hear the voices of their parents downstairs. I go quickly because Sora's house is uncomfortable, wash my hands and walk out. I close the door as quietly as I can, and then turn when there's footsteps up the stairs. The only light is from downstairs as it creeps up the staircase, but I can see Sora's mother pretty clearly.

I'm pretty sure that Laddish is a nickname of hers, considering that it can be translated to immature behavior in young men. I think Sora explained it to me once, it was a tribute nickname to how men acted around her that just stuck, but now I can't see how anyone can act like that around her. She's pretty, but she has no glow about her, no life in those eyes. Geeze, I never would have noticed this stuff before.

"Oh," she says when she sees me. She offers a light smile. "Hi, Roxas."

How could a mother let her son get beat? Why would she stay with that man if he hits her son like she does? My mom might not be a saint, but she _is _a mother. I finally understand why Sora doesn't call her mom, she doesn't deserve it. Having a child doesn't make you a mother, it makes you a child bearer. She doesn't deserve the title of 'mother.' It's a privilege, not a right.

"Hey..." I start to walk away.

She says, "Is Leon still here? I mean, if your know..."

"I don't," I say shortly. Then I sigh and add, "They were in the living room when Sora and I fell asleep."

"Oh," she nods. A silence fills the hall, and I go to leave again when she says, "Uh, wait, are you okay? You're not sick, are you? I don't want your mom getting pissed at me if you get sick over here. I went to school with her, I know how she is."

I can only hope she doesn't see my loathing look in the darkness of the hallway that I had receded to. "No. I'm just really tired."

I don't let her say anything else before I go back into Sora's room and close the door.

**~o~**

Sora wakes me up in the morning when he sits up and stretches. It's a little past ten, and it's cold. It's always so cold in this house. We're both still wearing the clothes from yesterday, which we had fallen asleep in, so I change. Sora leaves on his clothes, though, his hair everywhere. He rubs his face while I change.

Downstairs, Axel and Leon are already up and moving around the kitchen. I'm pretty sure that they're attempting to eat the whole kitchen, with how much food they had pulled out of the fridge. Sora grabbed two apples and threw one to me. Then we both sit at the table, where he lays his head on one hand, the other holding the apple that he's only taken one bite out of. He won't look at Leon, and Leon won't stop glaring at him, leaving Axel and I as awkward bystanders. He's still mad at me, too, so he doesn't look at me much. I don't really care, though, because I'm nursing a headache and I haven't brushed my teeth yet. I don't need human contact at the moment.

At eleven, Sora and I finish the project papers, and I shove them in my bag so that I can type them up when I get home. Sora stares at his Tumblr dash for about ten minutes, at the same post, and I give him a weird look. I mean, it's just a picture of some guy running around a park in a puffy pink dress with a horse mask on. This website really is an odd, odd place.

Sora sighs and shuts his laptop aggressively. That laptop sure does get a lot of rough treatment. "I can't believe this fag stole my boyfriend. I mean, come on! Of all the fucking guys, it _had _to be him?"

I make a face. "Wait, Leon's dating a guy who jumps around in dresses and horse masks?"

"That's your cousin."

"Seifer?!" I take the laptop and open it back up, then type in the password (we share passwords, and he's used sora5eva eighth grade), and sure enough yeah. That is definitely my cousins, because I'd recognize that tattoo on his calf anywhere. So, this is what Seifer does with his free time, post pictures of himself in furry drag. I can't stop laughing, and just- my manly as all hell cousin _post pictures of himself_ in_ horse drag_ for fun! And Axel follows him! And he's Tumblr _popular_! I question this website's well being sometimes, to be honest. Sora glares at me, so I try to compose myself and say, "Sorry, sorry... Wait, he's dating Leon? When did _that _happen?"

"At your stupid party," Sora pouted. "They exchanged numbers and they've been texting nonstop and I, uh, kinda followed your cousin out of jealousy, and he's always fucking posting pictures of him and Leon kissing and shit on his blog and Instagram. I hate him."

I purse my lips at him. "Well, I think you're better off single. I mean, like, Leon's mean to you, and you're cute and nice and people like you. You can do better." He shrugs, and I add, "Besides, Seifer might be a butt, but he's really cool once you get passed it. You know he's quarter back on his high school's football team? And they made it to championship last year."

"I know," he sniffed. "Leon's been talking about him."

Oops. Well, crap happens. Leon's a jerk, anyway, the way he talks to Sora. He and Seifer won't last too long, either, so I don't have to worry about that. Besides, Seifer's clearly going to be the man of the relationship, so Leon isn't going to treat him the way he treats Sora. And he can live his life however he wants. But that doesn't mean this new relationship info doesn't bother me.

**~o~**

When we leave, I hug Sora and tell him to call me if anything happens. I still don't know how to handle it, but for now I'll focus on the conversation I'm going to have with Axel about not telling me. I won't talk to him while he's driving, though. I like to actually be alive, and he's a bad enough driver when he's focused. It's when we get home and I throw my bag in my room that I go to his, knock on the door, and push it open. He's reading, which is shocking before I realize it's a Captain Underpants book.

He looks at me oddly and sets the book down, not checking the page. "What's up?"

I cross my arms, the door closed behind me. I can't be mean to him now, not with that face of his. "How long have you known?"

"About what?" he asks, furrowing his brow.

"About Sora being _beat_," I say.

"Oh." He stands up and walks all the way over to me, mirroring me and crossing his arms. "Awhile, I guess. I thought you knew. I mean, it's not something I just bring up, and like he's your best friend so I figured you would have notices all the bruises."

I frown. "I did, I just didn't think about it. I mean, he gets in fights a lot, so..."

"So you figured that they were battle scars," he nodded. "Makes sense, I guess. But, like, I put two-and-two together, and asked. You're supposed to be the smart one of us."

"I am." I sigh and have to take a step back, because I don't want to be that close to him. I lean against the door, and watch him while he goes over to his desk and starts doing busy work, organizing things and throwing papers away. He's been avoiding me since our kiss, and it's really starting to piss me off. I know that I'm well practiced in the art of avoiding things that bother me, but he's not supposed to be like that. "When are we gonna talk about this, Axel?"

He glances at me and moves some textbooks, one by one onto the top of his desk. "Never."

"We need to talk." I walk over to him and set a hand on his shoulder. He turns to me, looks down at me, and frowns. I'm not good with my words, but I know that things need to be resolved. Especially things like this. He stands and takes my hand in his, holding it against his shoulder. We stare at each other, for a moment. He really has a nice face, with those eyes and that jawline. And those lips... Is it wrong how much I want to kiss him right now? Mostly because I feel bad, because I can't just tell him that I've started to like him, but also partially because he is just so dang sexy. I ain't even gonna lie, I almost do.

He lets my hand go. "I don't want to talk. I'm done."

I frown. "Done? Done with what?"

He doesn't look at me now. He goes back to organizing his desk. I can almost see his computer now. "You."

Ow. That really hurts. I actually get a sharp pain in my chest after he says that. Well, you know what? Fine! Let him be a jerk. I was going to confess to him and everything, but forget it now! He wants to be mean, let him be. I look him right in the eye, making sure that he's getting all of the hate I'm sending through them right now, and say, "Fuck you."

Then, on my way out I add insult to injury and throw the textbooks he'd stacked up onto the ground.

That'll teach him.

I'm going to go cry now.

**~o~**

**A/N**

**Blurgh I don't like this chapter, but it was just a quick whatever chap to get some stuff out there and on the table.**

**The next chapter is a Easter theme (hehe) and will have some more Seifer, who I love. Also, there may or may not be a little accident in the next chap, which may or may not result in some AkuRoku bedridden fun time.**

**Also, thank you guys for all the reviews, this story hit ninety! Oh, and pleeease don't send me hate for this chapter. Okay, I know that they're not supposed to fight like this in fanfiction, this isn't romantic, getting real tired of your shit Tori, blah blah. I'm sorry! There's a method to my madness, I swear. This is going somewhere! Very soon, actually. We're almost to the actual AkuRoku of the story. So, just brave it out, stick around, and I'll love you forever. :D**

**So, in seriousness, I wasn't going to put this chapter up until the twentieth. However, due to a funeral I have to attend in Washington, I have to fly from California to there, and I couldn't leave you guys with nothing. This funeral is going to take a lot out of me, because it's for the father figure of my life, who was taken from me by cancer. I don't think I'll be around my computer for awhile, so I may go on another never-updating escapade. For that, I'm going to apologize. This just isn't something I can handle, so I don't think I'll be able to do more than sleep, cry and eat right now. Again, I'm really sorry.**

**I'll see you guys as soon as possible!**


	15. Easter

**~o~ Chapter fifteen :D ~o~**

Roxas here, reporting with a bruised rib from his bed on this wonderful Easter break.

I was having a perfectly good day yesterday, too. I was just derping around school, minding my own business with my girlfriend. I was actually having a pretty good day, because I hadn't seen Axel since we'd gotten to school, Namine and I had just finished a very nice make out session, it was nice and warm and it was the last day of school before Easter break.

And then I had to go to PE.

Of course coach was having us play flag football on the last day. And naturally, I was trying to avoid the ball at all costs. However, today the ball decided that it wanted to come to me and my PE friends, no matter how much we ran from it. It also decided to come to me when one of the more manly men in my class went to catch it. I caught it, which was actually really surprising for a moment, before the macho guy fell into me and knocked us both over. Because it wasn't bad enough that I had been knocked over by a three-hundred pound, post-puberty bear, his elbow also had to go into my ribs. Yeah, just an added bonus. I almost died yesterday.

But I got to go home early, which honestly didn't do much because by the time I was up at the nurse and she signed the papers and called my parents and everything, it was already the middle of sixth period. Then we went to the hospital, and sure enough I did have a bruised rib. According the the doctor, I need ice, then heat, and rest.

My mom won't let me close the door because I'm hurt, so Axel just walks right in. He has on the same look he's been giving me since he told me that he was done with me, which was about month ago. In fact, we haven't talked since then much either. I think he ask me to pass the salt yesterday, but that's all that comes to mind. He hates me, I can tell. The look isn't a glare, but more like a mix between annoyance and loathing. As if I wasn't being a big enough baby that last few months, crying over everything, this guy has made me cry twice. TWICE he's made me cry with the way he's been treating me, and that's a lot because I'm normally really good and ignoring someone when they're treating me badly.

I mean, I'll admit, I do kind of deserve it. Who am I to ignore him until he kisses me, right as my girlfriend's about to move, and then decide that I like him? Even if I tell him how I feel, it'll only look bad because it'll seem like I'm just saying it now because I'm about to get dumped. He wouldn't believe me, and frankly I don't deserve to go out with him right now. Not with the way I took the whole situation.

Axel came in to give me a new bag of frozen vegetables. I really hate these, these darn peas, having to put them underneath my shirt and against my bruise. It's cold and uncomfortable. Also, the tedious act to having to hold it up to the bruise is ridiculous. I can't type with one hand, and it's impossible to read. I have to resort to watching TV. Maybe I'll catch up to Sons of Anarchy while I'm stuck? I'd have to get someone to bring the Wii in here _and _set up to my TV for me, so that I can use Netflix. Or I can watch it on my computer, but that's a lot of work.

"Axel," I say before he leaves. He turns around and crosses his arms, annoyed. I wince when I sit up, pulling the previous mixed vegetables pack out of my shirt. Keeping down swelling is a lot of work. "Could you do me a solid?"

He crinkles his nose. "Maybe."

"Can you bring the Wii in here? And set it up for me?"

"No."

"Come on," I whine. "It's a solid! I'll return the favor down the line."

He sighs and rolls his eyes. "I guess."

I smile. "Thanks."

While he's getting the Wii from the living room and then setting it up, I try to do anything but look at him. This includes trying to type into my Facebook IM with Sora, who's replying way too fast for me to keep up, picking at the nails of my free hand and deciding that I need to file them down, and scrolling down my Facebook feed, deciding that people suck. When he's done, I close my laptop and expect him to leave. He doesn't, though, and turns on the Wii, puts it to the channel and even opens Sons of Anarchy for me on Netflix. I don't know how he knew that's what I wanted to watch; maybe he's psychic?

"What episode?" he asks, sitting on the edge of my bed.

"Um..." I adjust myself better, staring at him. "I'm on the first episode of season four, I think."

He stays in here with me, and moves to the headboard next to me. He's closed off, though, making sure that his shoulder isn't touching mine, crossing his arms gruffly, just staring ahead at the TV. While I'm trying my hardest to watch Jax and his daddy-Complex, I keep getting distracted by him and his little movements. "You, uh... You don't have to stay in here."

He shrugs. "Just racking up the solids you owe me. And your mom told me to stay in here."

I sigh. So, he wasn't in here to be nice or bug me like he normally does. He is really, really mad at me, isn't he? God, I need to make this better. I should apologize, tell him how I feel, hug him and ki-

I'm interrupted by a loud, obnoxious series of knocks on my partially open door. Seifer strolls in, that face on that suggests he either got laid or ate something really good. He has a tissue shoved up his right nostril, meant to stifle a bloody nose. There's no watching SOA now.

"Hey!" He smiles and holds his arms out to the sides. Axel stands up to meet him and they hug and stuff. I don't know when they became friends, but whatever. When they pull away, Seifer looks at me. "Look at you! So pathetic! Hey, you know what this reminds me of? That time we were at your dad's house and I pushed you out of the tree house! Didn't you get a concussion or something? Or a broken arm. I don't know. You wouldn't talk to me for months! I had to kiss his ass to get him to forgive me- I literally kissed his ass at one point 'cause I felt so bad."

I run a hand down my face, but wince when it causes me pain. "Seifer, can you do me a favor?"

"Yeah, sure."

"Shut up."

He grins. "I'll change the subject. So, Axel, where's your new boyfriend? I told you I wanted to meet him as soon as I got here."

I look at Axel quickly, but he isn't looking at me. He's still smiling at Seifer. He says, "He'll probably come over sometime this week. Or we can go meet him somewhere."

They're talking as if it's normal. Axel isn't supposed to have a boyfriend. He's not, okay? He's supposed to wait for me, like he's been doing this whole time. He's supposed to love me and want to wait, and he's not supposed to look at any other guys or any of those girls. Just me, okay? This isn't fair or okay, and I will not stand for this. However, I will not act on it until later, so that I don't make Axel madder at me. I don't think I can handle that.

And on a separate note, am I the only one who care's about Seifer's tissue? "Why do you have that in your nose?"

"Oh." He wiggles his nose. "I still have that in there? I drive all the way up here from LA and I didn't even feel it. Yeah, my mom threw a plate at me. It didn't hit me, but I fell into the wall trying to dodge it." He shrugs. "She was mad because I wasn't telling her where I was going. I'm gonna go take it out. Be right back."

He closes the door after himself, so I'm sure that our parents won't hear us. I look to Axel and try to keep down just how angry I am. "So."

He looks at me oddly. "So?"

Mind your temper, Roxas. It will be the end of you. "Why didn't you tell me you had a boyfriend?"

He snorts at me. "I didn't know I had to tell you every little thing about my life."

"That isn't little," I say. "Actually, that's pretty big. Who is it?"

Axel glowered at me. I should drop this now, so it doesn't go any farther. "That's none of your business."

"And that's rude."

We stare at each other for a moment. Then Seifer comes back, minus the nose tissue, drying off his hands on his pants. He looks in between us but shrugs off the situation and says, "Oh, hey, Roxas. I went by and saw your dad on my way up here. He's doing better."

I purse my lips and look down at my free hand. "Who cares?"

"He asked about you," Seifer goes on. "You know, I think you and your mom should go see him. I mean, sure, he's a dick, but he's not _that _bad. Anymore. At least, I don't think he'll try to kidnap you again."

"That's what he said the first time," I grumble.

Seifer is staying for a week. All break. I don't think I'll be able to handle it! He takes a picture of everything he eats, Tweets constantly, has the need to flirt with everyone, and insists that I name my dog after him. I mean, it'd be okay if she wasn't a girl, and if I didn't already name her Precious. Along with these tendencies, Seifer also leaves randomly to hang out with Leon. I can look past that, though, because he seems really happy. Seifer's always really loud and excited, but there's always other underlining emotions that border along annoyance and anger. It's really nice to seem him genuinely happy for once instead of putting on a mask.

He takes it upon himself to entertain me and show me all of his favorite shows, comics and websites. He also read aloud to me after forcing me to watch the first season of Doctor Who. These Tumblarians, man, I swear. I mean, I don't mind the reading, but I don't even like that show. But you can't say 'no' to Seifer. It's like telling a tiger that he can't eat an antelope, so he goes after you instead.

I get salvation when he strolls into my room one day and hits my foot. "Hey, I'm leaving for a bit. You gonna be okay?" I've gotten past the icepack stage, and have moved onto the heat pack part. Luckily for me, the heat pack attaches on so I don't have to hold it and can use my hands. "Oh, Axel's gonna take my place and bring your soup and shit, 'kay? Alright, see you later." He kisses my forehead and I swat him away.

Axel sits in my room with me, playing a game on my iPod touch. He didn't ask before he got on it, he just grabbed it from my dresser and already knew my password. I type up the essay I've been neglecting all break. The only sound in the room is the sound of my typing and the TV that is turned on, the volume low. Later, Axel brings me soup. Then he checks my forehead for a fever, which I don't object to because his hand feels nice against my forehead. I don't know why a bruised rib would give me a fever, though.

Seifer came back that night on cloud 9. His hair was mused, and by that stupid grin on his face I knew he had sex. Which is too gross for me to willingly think about, especially since it had to have been with Leon. I'm gonna throw up.

"Hey, cousin~!" He closes my bedroom door and leans against it. His clothes are askew now, too. The flannel he's wearing over his t-shirt is buttoned wrong and his belt is unbuckled. He's always so messy. "What have you guys been up to?"

"Nothing," Axel says. "What about you? You look like you had a good time."

Seifer wags his eyebrows. "Oh, yeah. _Really _good."

**~o~**

Easter day is looking up. By now, my bruise is much better and I'm up and walking around. We're having a big dinner tonight, only between us and Seifer. Thank god. I don't think I can handle the rest of my family again so soon. I'll pop a cyanide pill.

The day is opened with Easter baskets, and even though Axel and I are older, we still get them. Seifer gets one, too. They're filled with candy, mostly, along with hairsprays, deodorants and clone. Axel got some of that amazing Axe he always wears. I love that stuff. That's what I'm gonna get him for his birthday, for my own benefit. Seifer's taking all sorts of pictures with his iPhone, from every angle, of his basket and all of us. I bet he's going to put every single one of those online somewhere. His whole life is online. I assume that reality is a temporary one.

Joshy absolutely loves his basket. It's full of toys, candies and coloring books. He automatically takes out his loud ones.

Then comes the cooking. My parents don't want Axel and I in there because we might mess something up, but they want Seifer to help cook. He's good at that kind of stuff. Axel and I, however, are banished. He's back to ignoring me, but comes into my room nonetheless, watching things on Netflix while I roam around the internet. And I was right, those pictures Seifer took are all over his Tumblr and Instagram. He's easy to predict, that one.

I still haven't found out who Axel's new boyfriend is. I can't think of anyone he'd been flirting with recently, or any guys other than Cloud who like him. I know that a lot of girls do right now, but not men. So, who could it be? He won't tell me, no matter how many times I ask. He won't look at me either, when I ask him. I need to know who this guy is that he's dating. It's really starting to piss me off! And now he's texting someone, completely ignoring me. How can he come into _my _room and ignore me?

"Who is it?" I ask for the umpteenth time. He pauses the movie he was watching to look at me.

"Do you really want to know?" he asks. I nod. "No, you don't. Trust me, you don't."

I sigh. "I do. Just freaking tell me."

He snorts. "Well, shit. Fine. You're the one who kept fucking asking, though. I didn't want to tell you that I was dating your best friend."

I have never closed my laptop faster than this. I might have actually cracked the screen with the force. "What? _What?!_"

"I didn't want to tell you!"

"I don't give a crap if you wanted to tell me or not! What is _wrong _with you?!" I scream at him. "I can't believe you! Do you wake up in the morning, looking for new ways to piss me off? _Do you_?"

"Of course not!" He stands up when I push him off of my bed, and stumbles a bit when I get up after him and start to push him towards my door. "Fucking hell, stop! You're the one who asked, you little shit!"

I slam my door in his face. He shouts at me from the other side, but I ignore him.

Can you believe that? Sora, of all the people! I could handle it if he was going out with someone I didn't know, but my best friend? They don't even like each other! I don't even know when this could have happened! If I see Sora, I will genuinely punch him in the face. And I am one hundred percent positive that he can beat me up, but I don't care. I am so pissed off that I just- I can't even form words. I throw everything off of my dresser in a fit, and I'm pretty sure my iPod screen cracked when it hit the wall.

I want to cry, punch something and throw up all at the same time. Does every teenager go through this? I'm only sixteen, I don't think I'm supposed to be going through love problems like this. I can't reflect back on all of my emotions from the last year without confusing myself. I'm a bipolar douche, I know. And I know it's not fair for me to throw a fit that Axel gets a boyfriend right as I start liking him. But my best friend? _Really_?

I kick my wall and scream out in pain because I forget that I'm only wearing my fuzzy socks. I have to fall back onto my bed and cradle my foot, and then my face. Seifer comes in to my sobbing, and starts to turn to walk out before I look up and see him. He sighs and turns back in, closing my door.

He says, "Roxas, you know I love you, but I reaaaaly don't want to know whats going on with you and Axel. In fact, I don't want to know anything about your personal life. Just as I expect you feel with mine. But, hey, I support whatever you want to do, whoever you like, blah blah."

"Get out," I glare through my fingers.

"You can always come cry to me."

"Get out!" I scream now. Nobody is listening to me today.

"Dinner's in twenty." He finally walks out.

I hate everyone.

**~o~**

After we say grace, we make our plates. I'm not hungry, and apparently neither is Axel. We glare at each other from across the table, where my mother had seated us. Everyone else is eating as much as they can, and Seifer is taking pictures of his food and himself eating copious amounts of pie.

Axel smashes around his own blueberry pie, and he won't look up from his plate. I want to throw my mashed potatoes at him.

"So." My mom breaks the tense silence. I want to throw them at her, too. "Seifer made the turkey rub. It's good, isn't it?" We all look to Seifer, who has a mouth overflowing with potato salad. He stares back at us, swallows, and smiles.

Our dad gives him an odd look. "What, uh... What are you taking pictures of yourself eating for?"

"Tumblr," he replies. He remembers the other website and says, "Instagram. Both of them."

"He's popular on the internet, honey," my mom tells our dad.

I don't eat much. I think I had some potatoes before I pushed them all over my plate. I ate a bit of pie, too, because our dad is a good baker and he never makes his special pies. Seifer eats half of one himself, fatty. He's always eaten a lot. There was this one time when our moms were both really poor, and even though our birthdays are five months apart, we had a shared birthday party. We had two separate round cakes, and he disappeared with one and we found him in the tree house, covered in the frosting with some girl, the whole cake eaten. He's always been a whore, too.

"I hear you have a girlfriend now," my mom attempts to start another conversation with Seifer.

"Boyfriend," Seifer corrects.

My dad nods. Through a mouth full of pie, he says, "I didn't know you swung that way. Makes sense, though."

Seifer laughs. "Yeah, he's great. We're not going out, though. It's an open relationship."

"It's Leon," Axel says.

The parents both stare at my cousin. Seifer stares back, chewing slowly, the camera screen open on his phone. Our dad is the first to snort back a laugh, and then my mom, and I honestly don't know what's funny about this. I didn't find it funny, personally, because Leon's a brute and I think that Seifer can do better. I also don't like him because of what he's done to Sora, even if I'm still mad a Sora. The open relationship thing had to be Seifer's idea, though. He sleeps around.

Oh, god, what if he's hooked up with Axel, too?

The thought hits me like a ball to the face and I look up quickly, between them. They're awfully chummy, but they just met. I don't know how anyone can become so close like that in such a short time. I don't trust Seifer when it comes to sex, because he will sleep with anyone. Part of the reason I stopped hanging around him was because when he went into ninth grade, two grades ahead of me, he'd gotten really wild. He was also caught a little over a year ago sleeping with his mom's boyfriend. Their relationship had only gotten worse after that, and the man had gotten jail time. That just furthers my distrust for him when it comes to this kind of stuff. I love him, but I don't trust him.

When the meal is done, Axel and I are expected to clean up. The parents made a few separate plates to take to some of my mom's friends across town, and leave us with Seifer and Joshy. I'm glad they're gone, because I'm going to get to the bottom of the whole Axel-Sora-Seifer thing.

I was washing the dishes and Axel was behind me, putting the food in containers. I try my hardest to be sensible, I really do, but I want to throw _everything _at him. I hate him so much right now. I drop one of the plates and it shatters in the sink in front of me. "Crap..."

He gives me a sideways glance. "You okay?"

"Fine," I snap back. I pick up the broken pieces and put them on the counter. A piece cuts my thumb and blood starts to come out in small bubbles. I repeat, "Crap."

Axel sighs and puts a plastic container down. When he comes over to me, he takes my hand and looks over my thumb. I almost snarl at him, but keep it in. "You're always hurting yourself." He walks over to the counter under the microwave where we keep our first aid supplies and gets out the box of Avengers bandaids the parents got for our little brother. I get a Captain America one, and he puts it on for me after using a paper towel to dry the blood off. It's still bleeding when he puts it on me.

I pull my hand back when he's done. I hate him, I really do. But I still want to kiss him. More than anything right now, I want to kiss him. Of all my urges that I have to resist, this is the biggest. I look away from him and lean my left hand with the newly bandaged thumb on the edge of the counter, in front of the sink. "Did you, uh... Did you hook up with Seifer?"

He looks incredibly shocked at that. "What? Why would you ask that?"

"Yes or no, Axel."

"Of course not!" Now he looks insulted. "What, do you think I'm some fucking whore or something? I don't just hook up with anyone, Roxas. I've only slept with one person."

I narrow my eyes at him. I don't believe him. "Who was it? Cloud?"

"God, no. Cloud has a boyfriend. We just bleweach other every once in awhile." He says it as if it's so casual, like it doesn't matter. Well, it does to me. "And it was a girl. My freshman year."

"Who was it?" I ask again.

He winces at the memory. "Larxene."

Oh, god. She's the one who looked like she wanted to kill me at Cloud's party. The one who keeps trying to get into Axel's pants. I've seen her glaring at me a few times at school. Thankfully, she's a senior, so I don't see much of her. But, who loses their virginity to such an awful person? She's pretty, sure, but she's mean. I don't know how anyone can stick it in her. She seems like she'd take the head of any guy she slept with. Actually, she seems like she should be a lesbian.

"Where's Seifer?" I ask.

"Upstairs. Taking pictures with Joshua in the bathroom."

Good. That means he can't hear us.

I throw the closest glass full of liquids in his face. It was tea, my mom's that she hadn't finished and I hadn't washed out yet. He fumes, but doesn't say anything, and reaches for a dish towel to wipe his face. I start, "I can't believe you! You piece of crap dick! I don't care _how _mean I was to you, or _how _long you were waiting for me! You _don't date my best friend_! God, I don't see how he can do this to me! I tell him everything!" I wipe at my eyes to keep myself from crying. "I hate you. I hate you! I _fucking _hate you, Axel!"

"Hey, you're the one who kept fucking asking!" He's losing his patience with me. "I didn't want to tell you because I knew you'd react like this! It's none of your business who I date, Roxas! You don't fucking like me, and I get it, okay? I have the right to date whoever I want!"

"No you don't!" I wipe at my cheeks with palms and he comes closer to me. I have to look up at him. "You don't have the right to date whoever you want, Axel! You can date someone I don't know, or one of your friends, but not my best friend! Now with the way you manipulate my emotions, or after we kiss, okay? You don't have the fucking right! _I hate you_!" I hit his chest the side of my hands. He grabs a hold of my wrists and I struggle against him until he pushes me against the counter. The drawer of silverware clangs when my back hits it. I wince at the sudden pain in my ribs. My breath is heavy and my heart is beating fast, while my wrists are under a lot of pressure from where he's holding me. The tears are falling freely now, and I can't wipe them away. I sob. "I really hate you..."

"No you don't." He kisses me, and I don't struggle at all this time. I want- no, I _need _him to kiss me. He lets my hands go and pulls away, but I put my hands on both sides of his face and pull him back to me. I really do like him, underneath all the hate. Maybe more than I like Namine. His kisses are a lot better, mean a lot more. He makes my body go numb. I let go of his face and throw my arms over his shoulders. God, I really like him. I moan against his lips. He kisses my neck. His hands go on my hips, my hands thread in his hair. I sob against his lips and finally pull away. When I do, I don't push him away like I should, and let him keep his hands on me. I place mine against his chest only to keep him away from my mouth. He moves his right hand up to cup my cheek, rubs his thumb over my bottom lip. "Roxas..."

"I'm sorry," I ground out. I wipe my face off with the back of my hands, and then put them back on his chest. "I really am, Axel. I really am sorry."

"For what?"

"Everything!" I lightly nudge him away and step away from the counter, into the open space of the kitchen. I can't have him touch me. Out of all the people I don't trust, I don't trust myself the most. I don't know myself well enough to know what I'm going to do. I cross my arms and turn back to him. My thumb throbs lightly, now that my body is less numb. My heartbeat and breathing have slowed down. I'm trying my hardest to think clearly.

He sighs and leans his back against the sink counter, both hands on the edge of the counter. For the first time in a long time, he gives me the look I missed. The look that reminds me that he still has feelings for me. It's a sad expression, I know, but it makes me feel better.

Finally, he says, "I do still love you."

But he walks out, walks passed me and out into the hallway. He leaves me to put the food away alone. I don't want him to leave me, but I need to give him space. I think I do, I don't really know how these things work.

But he loves me.

Thank god, he still loves me.

**~o~**

**A/N**

**I'm baaack~!**

**And I actually wrote this chapter a lot faster than I thought I would. Turns out, writing can actually help me feel a lot better. So I wrote out two- two!- new chapters. However, I'm not going to put up the new one too soon. But expect it! And thank you guys for your kind words. I really do appreciate it. And I reaaaly appreciate this story hitting 100 reviews! **

**As for the bedridden Akuroku I hinted towards, it didn't happen. It didn't come through the way I wanted it to. :/**

**Also, I don't know if I've already said this, but this is Final Fantasy Seifer, not KH Seifer, so he's really big and manly. It's also Final Fantasy: Dissidia Leon. **

**See you soon! Review!**


	16. Hate

**~o~ Chapter sixteen in Sora's POV, with a lot of cussing and mention of marijuana use! Also a lot of Tumblr references, so I'm sorry to any non-Tumblr users. :/ ~o~**

I'm Sora and I fucking hate Seifer Almasy.

All I can do in a day is sit at my computer and obsessively check over his Tumblr, Instagram and Twitter. The only thing keeping this from being completely boring is that he updates everything all the time. I would probably like him if he didn't steal my boyfriend, because he's kinda funny, but shit! He stole my fucking boyfriend! If I see him, I'll probably punch him in the face. Who the shit does he think he is, taking pictures with my best friend and putting them all over his websites? I'll kill him! _I _should be the one comforting Roxas back to health!

_Fuck Seifer Almasy_. I hope he falls and breaks his face.

On a brighter note, it's Easter! And Leon stayed home for dinner instead of going out with his friends, like he was going to do. He walked in during Family Feud, way late, after the table was set and dinner was out. The monkey man was already angry and halfway through an Old English. Leon didn't care, though. He doesn't care about anything anymore. He hates us.

There's a tension in the air tonight. You know, more than there normally is. Like, monkey man just keeps glaring at us like he wants nothing more than to flip out. He knows he can't though. Leon would kill him. But, anyway, it's not just _that _tension. This is the first Easter without my little brothers. We didn't see much of them outside of holidays already, because their grandparents always have them. We pick them up sometimes to do stuff, but not recently. Since Leon's been avoiding the house, the step's been on a rampage, so Laddish lets the grandparents take them a lot more.

Laddish made a spread of all the Easter works, with a honey ham, a turkey, and more sides than I can count. She forgot about the green beans, though, as gorilla man pointed out when we all sat down. She put them on the stove in a pot while we said grace. I hope she doesn't do anything to fuck this up. I don't see Leon too often anymore, and while he won't talk to me, it's nice to actually see him. When he is home, he's normally locked up in his room, listening to loud music and smoking weed. A lot of weed. And, you know what? I could handle it if it wasn't with that _fucking slut S_eifer Almasy. I haven't seen him face-to-face, but I hear them. They make out and have sex a lot. And you know what's the worst part?

Leon's on the fucking bottom!

I watch as Laddish serves the step. He leans back in his chair, his feet on the table, boots stained in spilled motor oil. She must put too much mashed potatoes on his plate, because he says, "Hey!" and she takes some off. He's such a lazy little shit. The green beans are still heating up when we start eating. She stays by the stove so that she can give him some as soon as they're done. I wish she'd sit down and eat, too. She worked really hard, cooking this meal. She's been in the kitchen all day taking care of the turkey and ham. The gorilla's been drinking since he woke up. I've been putting together the Easter baskets Laddish is going to send over to the boys later. The only good thing about being part of this family is that we have money, so we always get cool little gifts on these days. The boys both got a 3DS, and I got a new iPod touch. They got Leon an iPod, too, but he's going to sell it because he already has one.

There was this one Easter, when we were kids, that he cried because he'd gotten a present. We were poor back then, and my dad was still alive, and we were happy. Well, _I _was happy, but Leon and I are half brothers. He lived with his own dad, who was on a different basis just as bad as the primate. Only instead of drinking, his dad was on drugs, and while he didn't ever hit Leon, he was verbally abusive.

Well, my mom had weekend and every other holiday visits with Leon. We woke up that morning to my dad with bunny ear, pink bunny slippers, and bunny face paint on, hopping around the house. Our baskets were wrapped up in Seran Wrap, full of candy they had gotten with our food stamps. On top of the peeps and egg shaped Reese's, were two Gameboy Advances, one gray in my basket, and black for him. He had burst into tears automatically. I think that was the only time I've seen Leon cry, when he wasn't drunk. Of course, he was only ten then. His alcohol problem didn't come until high school.

Leon hasn't always been an asshole. He used to be a pretty nice kid. We weren't close, though, never close. Not growing up. He hated me because my dad was nice, and my dad had gotten our mother off of drugs. And then my dad died, and his dad got sent to prison, and our mom met Gorilla Joe here. It was all downhill from there.

"Oh, shit!" Laddish shouted. The pan that was cooking the green beans hit the ground with a loud _clank_, and we all looked to her, and she stared down at the mess, face suddenly pale as the blood rushed out. She burnt her hand, and her palm was turning red where she touched the hot handle of the pan. She must have been trying to hard not to mess up that she forgot to put on the oven mitt before touching the pot. She's done it before, but never while we were already eating, when the shitbag was drinking this much.

He hit his fist on the table. "Goddammit, woman!"

"I-I'll," she started stuttering. "I'll clean it up! Sora, honey, can you hand me that dish rag?"

I scoot back from the table to walk across our too big kitchen and get it. We don't eat in the dining room anymore, since I made that hole in the wall with my head. The step doesn't like to look at it. It makes him throw fits, like I did it on purpose, and he didn't fucking push me. I grab the rag from the sink and go to throw it to her, but it's too late. He's standing over her, screaming, and she's trying to pick the beans up with her hands and put them back in the pot. She keeps saying "I'll make more, I'll make more" but he doesn't care. He takes a hand full of her hair when she doesn't listen and jerks her head back, forcing her to look at him. She winces, one eye squinted open. He keeps screaming, but I can't really make it out because I want to throw up. Just one night, just one night is all I want. I just wanted to stare at Leon and think about all the nice experiences we've had together, and have a nice dinner with him.

"Let her go," I say, but he doesn't hear me over himself. I look to Leon, who is digging his nails into the table, restraining himself. Why doesn't he do something like he normally does? He should be throwing this guy off his mother, not letting him pull half her hair out. "Leon, _do _something!"

"Let her go." He doesn't say it loud, but the step hears him and stops yelling. He doesn't look at him, though. My mom reaches a hand up and stabs her nails into his hand. "Get your fucking hands off my mother. Now."

The primate gives her a yank, but lets her go. She drops to the floor, sobs, and brings a hand back to touch her scalp. Some of her hair is in my stepfather's hand, and he throws it back at her. Then he sniffs, licks his bottom lip, and looks to Leon. "Always with the orders, ain't ya? Suddenly give a shit about your mommy, huh? You fucking fags, I don't even see why I let you little shits stay in my house..." He scoffs at me. "What about you? Got brave now that your brother's back?"

"Fuck off," I say. I do get brave when my brother's around, but I don't care.

"Fagots." Then he leaves, off to the bar he's been visiting a lot recently. The longer he's gone, the better, but he always comes back shit faced. Drunks are the most violent people.

Leon leans his head into his hand, his elbow on the table, and sighs. He looks tired, and like he's about to fall asleep right there. Laddish gathers herself and takes the rag from me, cleaning up the mess. She keeps sitting on the floor, and I sit back in my seat across from Leon, pushing my plate away. He stabs at his ham with the hand he isn't leaning on.

"Thank you," Laddish tells him in a low voice.

He doesn't look at her. "Yeah."

She sighs and looks down at the pot in front of her crossed legs. It's so quiet in here, and the night is ruined. I wonder what Roxas is doing right now? His family always has good dinners, and there's never any fighting over there. I feel really bad about what I'm doing to him, but it needs to be done. How else can I get Leon back? And it's helping him, too. It really is. Maybe now he'll finally get with that brother of his so we can all get on with our lives. He gets jealous easily, so he'll definitely want Axel if he thinks that he's going out with me. Theoretically, I'll get Leon back this way. Jealousy is a great motivator when it comes to matters of the heart. If Leon thinks that I got with someone, he should get jealous and want me back, right? Especially if it's one of his friends. It was Cloud's plan, which I hate to admit. But it'll work. It better work.

I still don't like Axel, though. I just think he's perfect for Roxas.

That night, I was in my bedroom, sitting on the vintage sofa chair I have at my desk, doing my usual routine. Skype with hot girls, homework I don't understand, and stalking Seifer. My Skype call ends and I stare at my Tumblr dash, where Seifer is very active tonight. I hate this guy, but he posts the best stuff. But he's one of those fandom blogs, and I don't even know what a Doctor Who is. Or a Homestuck- what the shit is a Homestuck?! Whatever it is, it looks crazy. His posts have been getting gayer and gayer by the day. He gets a lot of asks, too, douche bag. People actually want to know what his favorite color is and what toothpaste he uses. He posts a lot of pictures of his cat, and even his cat is cool! He and his cat are like soul mates or something. He also has a rat, and his rat is cuter than his cat! I hate this guy! Not only is he hot and popular with awesome pets, but he's talented, too! This guy plays every sport at his school and is about to go to the nationals with his school's football team! I want to stab him, I really do.

And then I'm pushed over the edge. As if I wasn't having a bad enough day, this fucker posts a picture of himself and _my best friend. _And then- and then! This mother fucker posts a picture of himself. In my best friend's bathroom. In front of his mirror. With my best friend's little brother. I scream, as loud as I can, and punch the wall in front of me from where I'm sitting. My hand goes into the wall, but I don't give a fuck. We can get that shit plastered.

The picture stares back at me from my computer screen. He's doing that handsome smile of his, Joshua sitting on one of his arms, his white iPhone in his other hand. He's taking a mirror picture, and I know it's Roxas's bathroom because of the zebra striped shower curtain. Roxas hates it. And I hate his cousin.

I throw close my laptop screen and hear a crack. But that's not enough for me. I throw everything off of my desk, including the expensive Macbook Pro. The apple shaped light on the back goes off, and I'm pretty sure I broke it. I throw the chair at my desk down, and one of the wooden legs on the back breaks. I kick a high hole in my wall, on the opposite side of the room. I'm making my way out, slowly and destructively. Before I throw my door open, I throw a framed picture of Leon and I at the zoo at the wall. The glass cracks. I always liked that picture because it's one of the few I have of Leon smiling.

Seifer has a shitload of pictures of Leon smiling.

I scream again and my rage pours out into the hallway. I throw a lamp from off of a hall chest at the wall and it shatters. At least Leon knows I'm coming now.

I throw his door open and scream, "I hate you! I fucking hate you!"

I only get angrier when I see him packing all of his things.

"What the fuck!" I slam his door behind me and look around his room. Well, what was his room. He's gotten all of his clothes out of his closet and they're thrown in a pile on his bed, which doesn't have a blanket anymore. The posters are taken down and his CDs, DVDs and VHSs are all in one box near the door. He's sitting on the ground in front of a box that he's gradually filling with clothes that he's folding. He stares up at me, unfazed by my temper tantrum. "What the _actual_ fuck are you doing? Why are you packing all your shit, Leon? I swear to god, if you're trying to move out-!"

"I _am _moving out." He puts a folded sweatshirt into the box.

"Um, no you're fucking not!" He stands up and I push him as hard as I can. I'm small, but I'm strong, and he stumbles. He still doesn't falter. "We need you, Leon! You saw that shit in there! It's only getting worse by the day. Do you not care?"

He stares at me, thinking up a reply. Then, cooly, he replies, "No."

Is that it? Just a _no_? I gawk at him. This is unbelievable! I knew he was a heartless dick, but he's never been _this _bad! I sob loudly and turn away from him, covering my face with my hands. I hate him. I hate him! I hate Seifer and I hate him! They deserve each other! I cry loudly, and feel his hand on my back. He doesn't touch me the way he used to. This is the first time he's touched me at all in over a month. What happened to us? I still love him, but he doesn't seem to care about me at all! I turn quickly and punch him as hard as I can in the face. We grabs onto me and we fall back onto his bed, on top of the pile of clothes. They spread out beneath us, smelling strongly of Gain laundry detergent.

I don't think I've ever told the story of how we'd gotten together in the first place. I'm pretty sure it's been almost two years now. I've always been open to anyone in a sexual way. I will sleep with anyone if I have enough drinks in me. And there's never been a way to deny that my brother is sexy as all hell. He's the hottest guy I know. And before we hooked up that first time, I admit that I fantasized about him before. How could I not? Have you _seen _him? He's perfect!

Well, my freshman year was when I went completely wild. And Leon let me tag along, probably to make himself feel better for ignoring me all of my childhood. We were down in LA for some reason that escapes me now, and I was drunk off my ass when we went back to the motel room. Oh god, I was drunk. And I'm a sloppy whore when I drink. He had to carry me and when he sat me down on one of the two beds of the motel room, I pulled him down on top of me in giggles. Of course he tried to pull away, but I didn't let him and kept kissing him. He wasn't exactly sober either, so neither of us were thinking straight. That was the first time we had sex.

The second time was a few months after, when we were completely awkward around each other. Finally, he snapped at me and we had to talk about it. And I realized that I had grown to kind of like him over those few months, and he really liked the way I felt around his dick (or something). So, we made it a thing. And then the beginning of my sophomore year, I fell in love with him. I thought he loved me back. I'm pretty sure he did there for awhile. But clearly not anymore. I don't think he feels anything for me anymore.

What we had was simple and slutty and open. We could both sleep around all we wanted, up until recently. We had made it official that we were together, as boyfriends. And that means no more sleeping around. Unfortunately, I'm a slut, and old habits die hard. Like I said, I'll sleep with _anyone _if I have enough drinks. I even kissed Roxas, for shits sake! And then there's poor Vincent. He's a cool guy, I still feel bad. He really likes me. I feel like I'm pulling a Roxas on him, and he's my Axel. But I don't live with him, I don't have to see him every day.

Leon shoves me off him him and I roll onto my side. I dry my face off with the sleeves of my baseball tee. I ask, "Did you ever love me, Leon?"

He sighs, but like before he doesn't look at me. "Of course I did."

"Do you... Love Seifer?"

He looks at me now, and for the first time tonight his expression falters. "No. Why would you even ask that? I just met him."

I snort. "That's not what it sounds like when I hear you guys. My room is right next door, Leon. I hear everything." He ignores me and stares up at his ceiling. "Why don't you love me anymore?"

"Whatever we had wasn't healthy, Sora. It wasn't going to work. In any scenario."

At least he's being honest with me, for once. It's weird, I'm not used to him actually being truthful with me. He's right, too. It wasn't healthy. We were like Sam and Dean Winchester. I humor a bit because Supernatural was the only thing I understood on Seifer's blog, and now it's the only thing I can compare my relationship to.

"I'm dropping out," he tells me. I'm not really shocked at that, to be honest. The only reason he hasn't been expelled yet is because of money and friends on the school board. We've both been put up for expulsion before, but they've never been able to get rid of us. He's nineteen, though, and isn't going to graduate no matter what he does. He's about two years behind on credits. He says, "Uncle Morgan gave me a job at his construction company."

Now, that worries me. Uncle Morgan is bad news all the way around. He's not even our real uncle, he was just a guy my mom knew when she and Leon's dad were tweakers. I'm sure he's cleaned up now, and he's doing good for himself with owning his own company. I just don't trust him.

I yawn, getting tired from my fit earlier. It's almost eleven now, I think. I don't normally go to bed until way later if it isn't a school night, but I had a long day. Before I leave, I have to know, "Why'd you choose Seifer over me, Leon?"

He doesn't even think this one over. "We're compatible and simple." He pauses. "And he's open. He tells me everything. And it's a lot easier to be with someone when it isn't a secret."

I heave myself off of the bed, knocking some shirts down onto the floor. I don't care. He only pissed me off more. I kick aside his box and the clothes unfold onto the ground. I don't care about that, either. Before I leave, I turn back around, my hand on the door frame. "Oh, one more thing. I'm fucking Axel."

Then I close his door.

That'll teach him.

**~o~**

**A/N**

**Another short one. The next chapter marks the end of Namine. :/ I know, you guys are sooo sad that she's leaving. But, here comes the gay~! Also, I apologize for all the cussing and fights lately. It'll get better soon. And this chapter, with Roxas's fit and Sora's fit, were parallels of each other. And I was going to put this up somewhere between the 15th and the 20th, but I got tired of looking at it, so here it is!**

**Oh, and I keep forgetting to say, but I put my Tumblr link on my profile. Someone had messaged me asking me for mine, so I just put it there. :)**

**Well, see you guys soon!**

**Review~! **


	17. Girlfriend

**~o~ Chapter seventeen! With quite a bit of emotions circling around. Also, a fight. ~o~**

Roxas Richards here, and I've decided to tell my girlfriend that I cheated on her.

But right now, I'm not thinking about it. It's a week or so after Easter and we're eating lunch together with Kairi at the lunch table under the tree, next to the band nerds. Axel is directly across from us, only about ten feet away from us. He's sitting on top of the table with Sora, and I'm trying not to stare. Their friends are all around, including Cloud who is filing his nails. I still hate him, but all my hate right now is focused on Sora, who is feeding Axel his jello. I will kill him. I swear, I will! I haven't talked to him since I found out. He sat next to me in science during lab, but I got up and walked away because I'm pissed at him and I didn't want to say anything I might regret later. He got the message pretty quickly.

Their group seems a little empty now. Leon hasn't been coming to school. From what I hear, neither Cloud or Axel have heard from him recently, and Sora only sees him on occasion. I've seen him in a lot of Seifer's pictures that he's been sending to me. He wants me to tell him if they're okay or not to put up on the internet, and that he looks hot in all of them. He's really weird.

I see Leon now, though. Right there, coming through the attendance room hallway, out into the grass outside of the bus lane. And then onto the concrete of the quad. He looks livid, he's so angry. He's stomping and snarling and thank god he's going towards Axel and not me because I'm going to pee my pants just looking at him. Axel looks completely shocked, and even Cloud raises his eyebrows and puts down his nail file. Sora drops the jello on the table. He's the one who looks afraid. I can't see Leon's expression anymore because his back to me, but I can just make out what he's shouting about.

"You're such a fucking slut!" he points at Sora. Then he looks to Axel. "Stand up. Stand the fuck up!"

Axel complies and puts his hands out in front of him, trying to be civil. "Hey, man..."

"No." Leon points right in his face. "_No_. My brother, Axel? What the fuck is wrong with you?! You can't just go around _fucking _people's brothers!"

"Wait," Axel said. "I didn't-!"

Everyone around us rushes over when the first punch connects. I see Cloud sigh and stand up, going to lean against the wall of the tree bed behind them. Sora tries to pull Leon off of Axel, but clearly it's not working, and Axel's nose is bleeding all over his shirt. Namine and Kairi had pulled me over to the front of the crowd as soon as it started, so I see everything now. Proctors try to push through the crowd, but because my school is full of delinquents, a lot of students hindrance them.

Axel has a firm grip of Leon's shirt, and they're wrestling instead of fighting because Axel keeps saying, "I'm not gonna hit you, Leon. I'm not!" Leon gets some of Axel's nosebleed on his face, and it smears on his cheek. Sora's crying, and he's the first to get pulled away when the proctors break through. Then Cloud is gracefully escorted out while they try to break Axel and Leon apart. They have a tight grip on each other. They do get pulled away from each other, though. By the proctor who happens to be the wrestling coach, and one of the football coaches who happens to be my history teacher.

Axel got suspended that day. Luckily for him, Leon was the one who started the fight, at a random, so they didn't give him a fine or a court date. Just a suspension. My mom has never punished anyone more severely than she did him. What he gets.

That was Leon's last day of school.

**~o~**

There's only a month now before school ends in June. This is the beginning of May, and it's getting hot, so Namine and I have been hanging out at my house with the air conditioning. I don't have to feel bad about Axel because he's been locked up in his room, so he can't see us or anything. When he's cleaning the house, Namine and I just go to the mall or the public pool. I personally can't stand public pools because of all the people, so they make me sick, but she loves them. And she wears a bikini, so I can't complain.

Don't get me wrong, I still like Axel. But I have raging teenage hormones right now, and I still like Namine, too. Mostly her body, but I like Namine. And I only have a little bit of time left with her before she leaves state. It's kind of sad. And I don't want her to leave with me lying to her. So, I need to tell her about the times I've kissed Axel.

We were at the mall and I was going to tell her while she was walking around Victoria's Secret, looking at the lacy panties. But then I realized that she wears lace panties and decided against it for the time being. And then she was looking at the bras when I saw someone I recognized. Xion, Cloud's adopted sister. She was cool, at that party. She sees me, too.

"Roxas?" When she comes over to us, Namine puts down a bra that she was looking at. "What are you doing in you, you pervert? Oh, you're with your girlfriend! Namine, right? I drove you guys around a bit at Cloud's birthday party."

Namine smiles and nods. "Yeah. It's nice to see you."

"Likewise." Xion's outfit is a lot calmer than what she was wearing at the party. She traded rainbow in for black, with a black spaghetti strap tank top, dark jeans and black Toms. She's wearing a straight bill baseball cap with the word _Sultans _in turquoise thread. She either goes to or went to Sultana high school, on the other side of town. She slaps my arm. "You look cute, Roxas! Look at your wittle face!" She pinches my cheek and I smile.

"Thanks, you look good." Women are giving me odd looks in here. I say, "We should probably get out of here."

Namine nods. "Yeah, you _do _look like a pervert in here. I'm going to check out these underwear, though."

"Oh, hey." Xion walks after us. "Can I hang out with you guys for awhile? The girl I'm hanging out with isn't here yet."

We smile at her, and Namine says, "Of course."

That's how I became friends with Xion. At the end of the day, after the girl she was hanging out with came and she gave us space, we exchanged numbers. She texts a lot, and she's really cool and funny. I needed someone else to be friends with since I stopped talking to Sora. She dubs me her best friend after a week, which is cool because it took me four years to be Sora's best friend. She also listens to me rant about things during our phone calls, which are very frequent because she likes to talk. I like her a lot. And Namine likes her, too, which is a bonus.

And, you know who else likes her? Kairi. Since Kairi's a lesbian now, she's been on the prowl for a girlfriend. Her and Xion hook up the third time we all hang out together. Well, good for them, but they kiss a lot. More than even Namine and I, and we're like two dogs in heat. If only I was one of those guys who were into lesbians. The guys around the mall seem to like it, though.

It's when Xion and I are alone that I have the most fun. She likes to jump on stuff, like cars and buildings. She climbed to the top of the smoke shop after making me life her up on my shoulders so that she could reach the fire escape up there and throw eggs down at people. She's a lot heavier than she looks. Then she put on one of those horse masks, the exact same one that Seifer has, and runs around the mall. We got kicked out, turns out she's already banned from the mall, and she gave them a fake name and a fake I.D. She was banned three years before, though, so the picture they had up was of her with long, wavy brown hair and more piercings than a tribal African. I met her outside of the mall after she was kicked out again. The most memorable thing we did was when she convinced me to sneak out and hang out with her, and she stripped down into her underwear and started to partially streak up and down the street of Sora's neighborhood, screaming out the theme song for the original Power Rangers. Is this friendship? Because this is fun.

And then there's the gossip. She talks more crap on Cloud than I do.

"He's a baby," she tells me over McDonald's. "You know, our dad hates him. A lot. But Cloud takes it too personal. I mean, I'm an orphan. I know a bit about parents not wanting me, because my parents sold me for drugs. I think he should just be thankful that tool of a father of ours pays for the majority of his bills and lets him get away with all the crazy shit he does. Our dad's love isn't even worth it."

I try not to think about Cloud's home life all too often. It makes me feel bad about hating him so much. But just because his life isn't desirable doesn't mean he can treat people so badly.

Xion goes on, "You know he's into girls, right? It's really weird. He likes vagina, he really does. I just think he doesn't trust them enough to date them. When he cheats, it's only with girls. Except for Axel, but that doesn't count because they never had sex. But, yeah, he likes girls. He slept with a few of my girlfriends recently. At least Kairi hates him, huh? You gonna eat those fries?"

I think it was Zack who told me that Cloud liked girls. Everything from that stupid party keeps coming back to me.

I came home late that night, because it was Saturday and my mom has been really lenient with me lately. I think she feels bad that my girlfriend is moving. Also, the majority of her rage has been focusing on Axel since the fight. He's mopping when I come in through the back door. I step over the wet areas of the kitchen so that I can get out.

"Hey," he says, leaning the mop against the counter. He stands up straight and wipes his hands off on his pants.

"Hi."

"Where were you? It's pretty late."

I look him over. I'm normally the one to start conversations now, so this is odd. "McDonald's. Xion took me."

He makes a face. "Since when were you two friends?"

"I saw her at the mall a month ago. She's cool."

He keeps making that face, but starts to wipe down the kitchen counters with a dish rag. "I don't trust her." He starts to wipe down the island counter in the middle of the kitchen, looking at me. "She's good for talking shit. You don't want to get on her bad side. And it's easy to get there."

Xion does seem like the type to talk crap. Obviously she is, because she started telling me all of Cloud's business as soon as we met. I make a note to myself to only tell her little things. For now, I won't completely trust her. And while I'm not completely trusting her, I have the habit of getting on people's bad sides. Especially people in this group. I need to watch my step.

**~o~**

I've been hearing talk lately, about _me_. And the source is Sora.

Apparently, I'm the reason Axel and Leon got in a fight. According to that Ashley chick, I was "talking shit" and "escalating things." Like I don't have enough crap going on in my life right now. Now I have rumors that change every time it makes it's way back to me. Now they're saying that I was selling them their weed and they're angry over some missing money. It doesn't even make sense. But when have rumors ever made sense? Anyone who believes it is a moron. Unfortunately, my school is full of them.

"I don't believe it, honey," Namine says as she runs her hands though my hair. She came over to my house today, and we're sitting in my room while my mom is out with Joshy at the mall. "Do you want Kairi and I to start kicking ass and taking names? Because we can."

I smile. "No, it's fine. Rumors die down pretty fast. But, I mean, do I look like a drug dealer? I don't even think Axel smokes weed."

She wags her perfect eyebrows at me. "Drug dealers turn me on."

Two weeks now. We have two weeks together before she moves to Oregon. What else can we do, though? I've done every job possible around the house (that Axel isn't already being forced to do) for money to pay for the movies and what not, but by now we've seen all the good movies. We could go roller balding again, but last time Kairi got in a fight and now we're all banned. We've gone to the mall too often this month to go again. We settle for laying on my pillows and watching How I Met Your Mother. We also got a bunch of junk food from the gas station on the corner. If Namine and I weren't dating, we would still make good friends.

And I have to tell her about Axel.

When one of the episodes end, I pause the DVR and turn to Namine. She gives me an odd look, but crosses her legs and turns back to me. "What's up?"

"I have to tell you something," I say. She watches me. God, she's pretty. I really hope that she doesn't get too mad at me. She should, though. "I uh, I didn't want you to move away and me never telling you this. But I made out with someone else."

She looks shocked, but stays calm. Thank god she isn't like her sister, because I don't need to be slapped. "With who?"

I hesitate. She notices and narrows her eyes, but stays quiet. I was hoping she wouldn't ask who. How can I tell someone that I made out with my stepbrother? Not everyone needs to know that I have a crush on my male stepbrother, okay? But I can't lie, and end up saying, "Axel..."

She sighs and punches me in the shoulder. "God, I was scared for a minute there. I thought you were going to say the name of some pretty girl, like Xion. But I can forgive Axel. He's a whore."

I snort. He _is _a whore. "So, it's fine? You're not mad?"

"Oh, I'm mad," she nods at me. "But I can forgive you. I mean, I made out with Axel too, remember?"

That stupid party.

She pauses, then goes on. "But... I can't trust you."

Has anyone ever told you that they can't trust you? Yeah, it hurts a lot more than you'd think. I understand, though. I don't even trust me. And I _am _me.

Things between Namine and I didn't change after that. Things with Axel and I stay the exact same. And Sora and I still aren't talking. He blames me for the fight between Axel and Leon, but it's his fault. He's the one who pissed him off by dating Axel. Obviously, Leon was going to get mad. I don't know what he thought was going to happen, but it was his fault, not mine. And he expects me to apologize. Why would I apologize to him? I mean, I didn't do anything wrong. And he's the one who started spreading rumors about me. I just don't understand why he thinks I'm the one who should apologize.

On top of all of the Sora drama is the fact that this is the last week of school. Not only is it the end of my sophomore year, but it is also the end of my first real relationship. Namine is leaving on Friday, two days after school is out, and I'm pretty bummed out.

"My brother is nice, at least," she tells me. "And he's really nice. Cool. Handsome. All the girls love him. Kairi doesn't, though. She's really mean to him. You know, meaner than she is to other people."

Kairi is sitting directly across from us at Chile's with Xion's arm around her shoulders. She nods. "It's true. I fucking hate him."

There's been a lot of hate going around recently.

Xion and Kairi are inseparable now. And Kairi is actually being kind of nice to everyone. Well, she doesn't have much room to be mean because it's a rarity that her tongue isn't in Xion's mouth. We can't even get through a meal without them attempting to devour each other. And it isn't just the cute little pecks, or the kissing Namine and I do. They're practically having sex, with all the rubbing and moaning. This is a family restaurant, for god's sake. I can't complain, though, because Xion is paying. She gets a lot of money to throw around from her family.

When she and Kairi break apart again and actually start eating their food, Xion points her fork at me. Through a mouth full of food, she asks, "Did you ever find out why Axel and Sora's brother got in that fight? Cloud won't tell me shit."

"No," I sigh. "Axel won't tell me, either. He keeps saying that I'll find out, but I haven't. It's irritating."

It is. He's been really secretive lately.

Kairi snorts and says, "_He's _irritating. I can't believe he's dating Sora. I mean, I know Sora has low standards but come on. Show a little respect for yourself."

"I think Axel's too good for him," I say before thinking. Crap. They all look at me, but Namine looks back down at her food.

Kairi asks, "How?"

"Well..." There's no way to say this without being insulting. "Sora kind of sleeps around. I mean, I love him, he's my friend, but he's a whore."

Xion nods it over. "They're both whores. Sora will sleep with anyone if he has a drink, and Axel will make out with anyone if they're remotely decent looking. They belong together. Even if Sora's a bit more of a slut. God, he's a slut."

Axel does _not _just make out with anyone he think is attractive. He's not a whore, and I'm sure he knows who ever he kisses a bit before they actually make out. I'm lying to myself, I know, but I don't care. I need to lie to myself these days. It's not exactly easy to cope with my feelings. To go my whole life straight, then bi-curious, then suddenly bisexual for my step brother who up until a year ago I hated with all my heart, is just crazy. Axel's a whore, I know, but I like that guy. I really do. And I'll look past all of his personality flaws for as long as I can.

At home, Axel is still grounded. He seems happy to be going to school today, but I hope it's because the weekend is over and he doesn't have to work all day and not because he gets to see that slut Sora. Stupid, _stupid _Sora. My Axel's stupid boyfriend.

Now the last day of school is only a week and a half away. Today feels like a Monday, and the begging of a bad week. This is going to suck, I can feel it. Part of me hopes it goes by fast, but the other part needs it to go slow because this is the last week with Namine.

As I predicted, this is going to be a bad week. I get teamed up with Sora for a lab in science. We glare at each other from across the table while the other two girls teamed up with us flirt with Sora. The only time either of us says anything is when I ask him to pass me stuff. He doesn't know what he's doing. He never knows what he's doing in classes. The girls are even more useless, so basically I'm doing the lab on my own. What kind of teachers gives us labs on the last week of school? We should be watching VHS's of Bill Nye the Science guy right now. I'd even settle for one of those really bad science movies from the nineties where the kid actors are trying to be hip and clever. Where they try to make us think that science is the bee's knees.

Sora must be thinking more obscenities about me than I am about him, because he looks like he's about to explode at me.

"I'm not apologizing," I tell him.

"Good," he snaps back. He bares his teeth at me, and the girls both watch us. Nosy. "I don't need your apology. You're not even worth it."

I'm taken aback. "_I'm _not worth it? I'm not the one spreading rumors!"

"I don't spread rumors," Sora says. "I tell as much truth as I can. It's not my fault shit changes when they're spread around! If more people liked you, you wouldn't have to worry about them changing the rumor!"

Did this little bastard just tell me that no one likes me? The teacher separates us and puts me in another group, with the nerds thank god, but before I leave I 'accidentally' knocked over the beaker with the salt water project I was working on. They can put it together themselves. Baby move, I know, but I don't care. I'm tired of always doing the work for Sora. He wants to say that no one likes me, fine. But I'm not going to do anymore class work for him. And I'm not going to apologize for something I didn't do. I don't even know what he's mad about. I'm the one who should be mad, he's the one who got with the guy I like. And even if Sora doesn't know I like him, as my best friend and all the crap he talked about Axel and I, he should have just known that Axel was off limits.

I had to vent at lunch. Sora wasn't sitting with Axel at their table, thank god because I don't know what I would have done, I was so pissed off. When I vented, I left out some things such as the fact that Axel and I have a thing, and that Sora and Leon had a thing even though they both know about it. The last thing was because people are nosy and you never know who's listening. I didn't leave out the fact that it was Sora's fault that they fought because he was dating Axel, though. Or that he may or may not be mad at me because my cousin is fucking his brother. That's what I'm going to go with for now as to why he's so pissed at me.

You know what? I'm glad Seifer's partially going out with Leon! Leon might be a jerk who intimidates people for fun, but he deserves better than someone who says that they love them but then cheats on them _all the time_. He and Seifer are in an open relationship, there's no love there, so at least it's not cheating. At least Seifer isn't being a slut about the whole thing. Sora is two-faced and he doesn't deserve Axel. He just doesn't.

But then again, Sora's always been a good friend...

I'm conflicted. I do love Sora, he's my closest friend. My only friend up until recently. And I miss him, I really do. He's always been there for me, and I failed to be there for him. And I hope we can be friends again. But not right now, not with him dating Axel. And definitely not with him acting so unreasonable.

**~o~**

Every Wednesday I get to sleep in. The teachers have morning meeting every Wednesday, so instead of school starting at 7:25, it starts at 8:15, and it is my favorite day of the week. I go to bed a little bit later that night, but fall asleep quickly because so far the week is killing me.

Around two, I wake up and can't fall back to sleep. You know what would be great right now? If Axel was sleeping with me. I love sharing a bed with Axel, I really do. I wouldn't have been able to admit it a few months ago, but I really do love when we snuggle up together and just sleep. And maybe kiss a bit, but I'm getting ahead of myself. Not while I'm still dating Namine. I have to have strength. Jesus help me. He's only in another room, why can't I do it? I mean, why can't I have a weak moment? I need a little body warmth right about now. And now that I've started thinking, I can't fall back to sleep at all. So much for getting extra sleep.

I really need to sleep with him. I'll just allow myself to slip up this once.

Tiptoeing out of my bedroom, I crept down the hallway. Is this a bad idea? Yeah, it is. I don't care. I don't knock when I go into his room, because I'm sure he's already asleep. He is, thank god. Maybe he won't notice me. The television is on Adult Swim, volume on mute. The light helps me make my way over all of the crap on his floor. He's in his bed, on his stomach with his right cheek placed on the pillow. He has the blanket only on his lower legs, kicked and thrown around, and is wearing a black t-shirt and underwear. He's the one who had gotten me into the habit of sleeping in mine, but he wears boxers and I wear boxer-briefs, so I pulled on some pajama bottoms before I came in here.

The bed creaked when I put a knee on it. He turned a bit on his back to look at me, his eyes squinted. It took him a few seconds to realize it was me. "Hey..."

"You're dreaming," I say in a monotone voice, but smile.

"What's up? Are you okay?" He turns more on his back, and props himself up on his elbow. He's still squinting. The TV must be really bright to him right now.

I hush him lay down. He goes to say something else, but I put a finger to his lips and hush him again. "Don't speak. This isn't happening."

He shrugs it off and lays down on his side, facing me, but he closes his eyes and goes back to sleep automatically. I take my time to get comfortable, snuggling up into his chest and throwing my arm around him. When he rolls onto his back, I lay my head on his chest and roll up to his side, my left hand set comfortably on his chest. I can hear his heartbeat, and I sigh contently. This feels nice. There aren't many things in this world that can make me feel like this. Eating canned whipped cream, kissing Axel and this. He gets two out of three of my great pleasures. What I would give to break him and Sora up without seeming like a jealous douche.

I feel his hand go up my back, and it feels really nice. He needs to stop making me feel like this, okay? He really does. This is starting to become too much.

I fell asleep on top of him. He's like a big stuffed animal, and I can cuddle with him any way I want. The next morning, I made sure to get up before him at six and go back to my own room again. He doesn't mention it after that.

And then the last day comes. The sun is shining when I wake up, and I'm alert and awake as soon as my alarm goes off. Today would be such a good day if it didn't mean that it was the last day I see Namine. I know I must seem like a whore, with my conflicted emotions. It's just teen hormones. I hear people talk about the people they like all the time, and it's always more than one. One day they'll be talking about one person, the next it will be another. At least I've liked Namine consistently this whole time. And I didn't just suddenly stop liking her because I realized that I like Axel. I don't care if it makes me look bad. I have the right to feel however I want. Even if it makes me a whore.

I almost didn't get out of bed that morning, just for the fact that I didn't want the day to start. I heaved myself up, though, and pulled on a pair of pants and my gray t-shirt with the Captain America shield. Then I force myself to go out of my room and downstairs, where I eat half a bowl of cereal and dump the rest down the garbage disposal. I just sit at the table for the next half hour with my forehead on the table. Axel strolls in while he's brushing his teeth, spits into the sink, keeps brushing and grabs a banana out of the fruit bowl on the counter. He spits again. "What's up with you?"

"I'm mourning," I reply. I sit up with a sigh and look up at him. He's not even dressed yet and looks like he just got up, with his hair tied back in a messy ponytail. He always looks cute in the morning. "Namine's leaving today."

"Oh," he says. "Right. Sora told me about that. Hey, are you guys still fighting?"

I frown. "_He's _fighting _me_. You know he blames me for you and Leon fighting? And he thinks I should apologize to him. I don't see what you see in him. He's a whore." I catch myself before I say any more. Then I say, "You guys are perfect for each other."

That makes him laugh. He adjusts his boxers and yawns, then walks out while peeling the banana. Maybe after Namine leaves and we break up, Axel and I can get together. That's a selfish thought, I know, but I don't care.

I was suddenly really tired after I walked out that front door, and I fall asleep on the ride to school. Axel pushes on my arm when we're there, which startles me. I actually throw my backpack from off of my lap and it hits the dash loudly, and Axel laughs at me. While I compose myself, rubbing my face with both hands and getting my backpack back on my lap, he takes it upon himself to come around and open my door for me. Then he helps me down by taking my hand while I jump out of the van. I giggle. "Such a gentleman."

"I try," he says.

We don't walk into school together all too often, but today we do. Mostly because Cloud is missing school today because we don't do work on the last day of school, so he isn't waiting for Axel by the main gate. I don't know why he isn't with Sora, but I don't care because he's with me right now. We go through the gate by the locker rooms, because it's right in front of the student parking lot. We still have about twenty minutes before school starts, so we kill time by getting hot chocolate from the venders and sitting on the brick wall by the science rooms. I wonder if this is what it's like to date Axel. It'd be nice, I'm sure he'd make a great boyfriend. We make conversation about his science teacher who was taking them to the lab today, even thought it was the last day. I'm lucky because all of my teachers have been showing movies since last week, with the exception of my own science teacher who had just started showing videos yesterday, or have been letting us have free periods where we can talk, eat, listen to music or text. His classes are still sitting through lectures, but at least they don't have to do actual work. Just listen or watch the teacher do science. I'd rather have the free time and movies.

When the bell rings, he even walks me to my first period class, even though it's all the way in the W buildings. His class is in the P's, on the other side of the campus. But it's Hamilton's, so he can just walk in late. It's what everyone else does, anyway. We walk shoulder to shoulder while I sip on my hot chocolate. He finished his about five minutes ago, but I'm only halfway there. He bought it for me, so I'd feel bad if I threw it away. Plus, it tastes ten times better knowing that he got it for me. I must walk into my class with a love-high, because a few people look at me weird. I never come into class this happy, with a smile this big on my face, so it's understandable. Even the stoners who sit in the corner are staring at me. I drop the smile, but keep up the good mood. Maybe today won't be so bad.

At break, I'm with Namine again. But there's no talking. None of us are really in the mood for talking. My morning high has crashed and now I'm back to falling asleep at the table we're sat at, my chin in my hand, Namine leaning her head on my shoulder and staring somewhere near the grass. Kairi _is _asleep, with her head in her arms. The last day of school is always the most tiresome. This is going to be a long day.

In third period, I sleep all the way through the ending of _The Great Gatsby_, which I honestly wasn't too interested in anyway, and a lot of other students had fallen asleep as well. And then I tried to go back to sleep in science, where we had finally gotten the Bill Nye videos I wanted so badly. Only, Sora sat near me for the soul purpose of annoying me, sitting here with his friends and whispering things about me as if I couldn't hear them. He knew that I could hear them, which makes it worse. I end up moving ten minutes before the class ends to a back corner.

Lunch comes way too quickly for me. Every apposed to our three man group is ecstatic for the last day of school. Especially now that it's almost over. The seniors left some time last week because they leave early from school, but the graduation is today so a lot of people are talking about that. The school isn't crowded like it usually is, thank god, but the juniors are acting really stupid now because they're the upperclassmen now. Axel isn't really happy about being a senior next year, but instead happy about it being his _last _year. Hopefully. He's kind of dumb. Cloud has on the cool, apathetic expression he's been sporting a lot lately. For a few months now, actually. Xion says that he's going through a lot right now. Sora is sulking for some reason. He's always sulking. I don't know why he is now, though. I mean, he's dating a great guy and doesn't have to deal with losing someone he cares about.

Kairi looks the saddest of our group. Namine was supposed to leave a few days from now, but now she's leaving directly after school. Apparently, her parents found her Facebook via a family friend, and they didn't like her party pictures or cleavage. They're quick to get rid of her, really. If it's hard for me, it has to be even harder for her sister. See, this is why I don't make friends or date. They always end up leaving, for whatever reasons, and it's ridiculous.

Kairi suddenly breaks out in tears and pulls Namine close, and she cries into Namine's shoulder for a few minutes. People are staring at us, but none of us care. I have to sit awkwardly, because I don't do group hugs, but when Kairi lets her go Namine reaches across the table and hugs me. And she hugs my tight, and her fingers dig into my back, and it would hurt but I'm not thinking too much about that right now. She's crying, and her tears are soaking onto my shoulder. I can see Sora laughing from across the quad, but you know what? Who cares. Because I'm not only losing my girlfriend, but also one of my best friends, since she took his place. When she leaves, all I'll have is Kairi, who may not even be my friend _now_, and Xion, who doesn't even go here. I think I have the right to be a little upset. I even let a few tears slip down my cheeks, even though I wipe them away as soon as they do. Kairi is sobbing into the napkin that came in the spork packet, hunching over the table top next to Namine. That makes me feel kind of bad, to be honest. Kairi seems to have as many friends as me nowadays. Since Sora stopped hanging out with her, she lost the majority of her friends, and now she's losing her sister, too.

When lunch ends, we make a promise to meet at the front gate after school. It'll be fine, because Axel will wait a bit for me before we leave, and their parents normally pick them up around thirty minutes after school ends.

I sit through my next class, feeling like utter crap. Watching the clock. Practically drooling. I want this day to end more than anything. But at the same time, I _really _don't want it to end. Sixth period goes by even slower than the first. I watch the clock, not sure what my emotions are doing when I try to mentally slow it down, and then speed it up. And then it seems to stop. People around me are screaming, and I force myself to look at the desk. Food is flying across the room, a paper airplane his me in the face and someone's butt just touched my arm. I hate these people. Sometimes I scold myself about not having any friends, but looking out at this collection of swag fags and socially-done stoners, I'm reminded that I just can't stand these people and would rather be alone. I'll settle for texting Namine and being Kairi's resort friend. And I always have Xion after school. I don't need anyone else. These guys _suck_, okay? I mean, a guy in the corner just picked his nose and wiped it under the desk. I'm happy with having no friends if these are my only options.

When the bell rings, I linger in my seat for a moment, watching everyone else file out. Then, grabbing my bag, I force myself up and out the door. I haven't told Axel yet that we were staying after for a bit, but he's at the back gate anyway talking with Cloud. I shove my way past the crowd of people that are crowding out, and push someone out of my way when they step on my foot. I don't care what they called me. I'm having a very bad day. Cloud glares at me, his upper lip jutted up, and I glare right back. Then I turn to Axel. "Hey, I need to stay after school for a bit. Is that cool with you? To hang out for awhile and wait for me?"

He shrugs. "It's cool." Then he looks to Cloud and asks, "Do you still want me to drop you off? If you don't mind waiting, I mean."

I watch Cloud. Now it's obvious that he's having home issues. He looks... _tired_? Is that the word for it? Yeah, he looks like he's been up for days, and he's in sweat pants and a sweat shirt. His hair is messy, and he's licking his top row of teeth when he nods, and he'll probably fall asleep in the van. Today is a very sleepy day. In fact, I'm going to go to sleep as soon as I get home.

But right now, Namine and Kairi are waiting for me outside the gate.

Axel, Cloud and I walk out together, Axel in the middle of us. Cloud ended up bumping into some kid and knocking his binder on the floor, then hissed at him, "Watch it, freshman!" Like it wasn't his fault. I hate that guy.

Namine hugs me when I come up, and we hug for about a minute before pulling away. Kairi is crying again, but at least she gets to go home with her before she leaves. Namine keeps dabbing at her eyes with the side of her hands. We stand around in the heat, my hands in my pants, and stare down at my shoes. I'm not good at these. The goodbyes. I'm not crying here, though. I'll cry in the car or something. Axel always does really good at comforting me.

Cars are leaving the parking lot, people staring at us as they walk past. Kairi snarls at a pair of girls who were giggling at us, and they stop immediately and keep on their way.

"Fucking bitches," she mutters and wipes her cheeks dry. She takes a deep, shaky breath. "Well, guys. This is it."

"Yeah..." I sigh. Namine reaches over and takes my left hand, holding it in between us while she's facing me. We made a circle, really, in the middle of the grass outside of the tennis courts and in front of the parking lot. The sun is hidden behind clouds, which is odd for a hot California day like this. Namine looks up at the sky, the white clouds puffing around.

"Maybe you guys'll get summer rain when I'm gone."

I've always hated summer rain. The rain is too hot, the thunder too loud. Seifer always liked the rain, but I've always hated it. I wonder if Namine likes rain? Now that I think about it, we've never really talked about stuff like that. I know that her favorite color is white, her birthday is in December, and her favorite show is That's So Raven. . That's about it. I feel kind of bad, because now I won't be able to find out about stuff like that. Sure, we'll text and Skype and talk on Facebook, but that isn't the same. And she'll visit, yeah, but it doesn't work the same way. We're over and done now. And even though I like Axel, I like Namine too, and I don't want our relationship or our friendship to end. She's not only my girlfriend right now. She's my closest friend, too. I don't have Sora anymore, and Kairi and I aren't friends. And now she and Xion are my only friends. Axel's there for me, but not the way I want him to be anymore. So, all I had was Namine. And now she's leaving.

When the dark gray minivan pulls into the school parking lot, we all hug. Most of the students already gone from school save for the occasional kid still waiting for their parents or the the sports teams who need to stay after school, so there's not many people around to see us. Because it's a group hug, Kairi's arm is also around me, and she's crying into the gap of mine and Namine's shoulders.

"I'm gonna miss you guys," Namine sounds out. She leans her head into mine, and I inhale the scent of cotton candy perfume that she wears. "Roxas, you better remember to text me. And call at least once a month. Okay?"

I nod. "Yeah. I will."

Our hug ends and we all look to the minivan. Their parents, their mom driving and dad sitting in the passenger's side, are staring right into my eyes with a glare. I guess I can see how people like this can just send away their kids. They look like the type.

Namine takes my hand and kisses me one last time before climbing into the back seat. Kairi nods to me and follows in after her. And then I'm alone. All alone.

I walk slowly to the van, which is facing the street thank god, so they couldn't see us. Cloud is laying down in the back seat, asleep like I predicted, and Axel is playing a game of his phone. I climb in and he looks at me for a second before looking back to his phone. His character dies and he sighs and turns on the van. "You okay?"

"Fine." I stare at the window, pulling on a long frown.

On the way, Cloud wakes up and sits up, looking like crap. And then we drop him off at his house, the dogs jumping excitedly at the gate when he walks to them. I'm glad to be alone with Axel, because now I can cry.

I bury my face into my hands at a stoplight, sobbing repeatedly. Once again, I find myself broken down in front of Axel. He's one of the few people I will cry in front of. I used to be able to cry to Sora, and now I wouldn't have a problem crying in front of Seifer, but other than Axel, that's it. He parks the car on the side of the road and lets me cry into his chest, both of us leaning over the threshold between the two seats. He has such a nice, firm chest. And now I'm getting his shirt soaked. His hand rubs up and down my back, gently and sensually. I hug him, sighing when the tears stop, but not letting go.

He's such a great guy. I know that we've had our ups and downs, mostly downs, and that he was mean to me up until recently, but I really, really like him. And I would love to be with him.

But now isn't the time.

I just got out of a relationship, and he just got into one. And even if he says that he still loves me, that doesn't mean that either of us are ready to be together. If there's anything I learned from that brief time I was into Glee, it's that it is always a bad idea to jump into a relationship when you have just gotten out of one.

Axel kisses the top of my head and then I pull away, wiping my face with my palms. I would kiss him right now, but I'm sure I look terrible, and anyways I can't do anything with him right now. Not when Namine and I broke up literally twenty minutes ago. So, he just ruffles my hair, I buckle myself back in, and we drive home.

One thing I will not do is dig a hole for myself to jump in.

And if I get with Axel right now, that is exactly what I will be doing to myself.

**~o~**

**A/N**

**I uploaded this around midnight on 12/21/12 where I live, because if the world ends today, this will be the last thing you read. :)**

**The next chapter will be up on Christmas, as a present. And in turn, you guys can all give me a review! There's no present I want more than a review from you guys. They motivate me.**

**The next chapter will also have some answers about Roxas's father. So, wait for it!**

**See you soon.**

**An extra: upon finding the Gizzogle ghetto translating website, I have decided to translate a passage from the next chapter:**

**I took this passage: "He gives me a look and starts the microwave with two bowls of spaghetti in it. Then he turns back to me and says in a sassy voice, 'She has a new man. You know how she is. Hopefully, she won't come in all weekend.'"**

**anD I GET THIS**

"**Dude gives mah crazy ass a look n' startz tha microwave wit two bowlz of spaghetti up in dat shit. Then he turns back ta mah crazy ass n' says up in a sassy voice, 'Biatch has a freshly smoked up man. I aint talkin' bout chicken n' gravy biatch. Yo ass know how tha fuck her ass is yo. Hopefully, her ass won't come up in all weekend.'"**


	18. My Cousin's House

**~o~ Chapter eighteen, half filler, half important! Also, this is important: Los Angeles Unified school district's last day of school is (should be) on June 12th, while Hesperia Unified is on may 30th. Roxas was in Hesperia, so school ended for him earlier. Also, a warning: this chapter has quite a bit of sexual references via Seifer. And a mild spoiler for the movie 'Philadelphia.' Enjoy! ~o~**

I'm Roxas, and today I find myself at my cousin's house.

I'm not really clear on what happened, to be honest. I came home from the mall, ready to go and take a power nap, and found Seifer in my living room, and he had apparently packed a bag for me while I was gone, which means that he had been in my room. And then I was told by my mother that I would be staying the weekend with him at his house, which is the last thing I want to do. I'd rather go back to Sora's than his house. Of course, when my mother decides something, there is no changing it. She's also kicking Axel out for the weekend, in which he's staying at a friends, and Joshy is going to our grandparents. Apparently, she and our dad need 'time alone.' Whatever that means.

So, I was forced into the passenger's seat of Seifer's Camry, and driven off to the hell hole of a home he lives in out in one of the worse parts of Los Angeles. Compton is the last place I wanted to visit today. He lives in the better part, but it's still pretty bad, going through the backstreets. He see's me looking around and laughs. "These are my people!"

His people. Yeah, that _does _make sense. Even when he lived near us, he wandered off to the more questionable groups at school. In elementary school, so they weren't that bad, but still questionable. They were the ones who would do the little graffiti in the bathroom stalls and the smuggling of cigarettes behind the portables. His friends genuinely thought that they were so cool. He'd just go along for the ride.

Seifer lives on the corner of East Myrrh street and South Ward avenue, in a nice little house that he, his mom and his sister split the rent on. He's off of work this weekend, which he's ecstatic for. His music is also as loud as always, and I was sure that by the time we got to his house, I'd be partially death. I didn't know that 2Pac could be played so loudly. I'm relieved when he parks the car on the street as we arrive at his house. He carries my backpack in for me, and when I walk in I'm assaulted by how sweet the house smells. Quistis has this thing for sweet smells, so she has all sorts of candles, plug in air fresheners and those scented wax melts all around the house.

The house is pretty on the outside, but the inside is a wreck. The floor is covered in clothes from a tipped over laundry hamper by the mismatched couches, the couches themselves covered in even more clothes. There's a shoulder sized hole in the wall near the television, which looks like someone had fallen into it. More than likely upon drinking, and probably made by Seifer. At the entrance of the kitchen, a trashcan is tipped over, the contents spilling all over the floor and into the living room. One of the walls of the living room are a completely different color than the rest, a piss yellow with a few strokes of white paint, which looks like they ran out before they got to that wall. Pictures line the walls, and I'm surprised to even see a few of me, which were taken when Seifer, Quistis and I were kids. There is even one of Seifer and I in the bath, Seifer standing up in all of his naked glory. He was only about six, but it's still weird. They're a weird family.

"You hungry?" He throws my bag on top of a pile of clothes on the spotted maroon loveseat, and then walks into his kitchen. The kitchen is even worse than the living room. When he opens the fridge, I hesitantly sit at a chair at the kitchen table, that is right in the middle of the kitchen, covered in Seifer's textbooks, old newspapers and outdated magazines. There's even a copy of _Jet _magazine from last year.

Seifer starts to pull out spaghetti leftovers from the fridge and setting the containers on the counter next to the fridge. He has to push dirty dishes aside to do so, because they have long since overflowed from the sink and are now moving South. There's a splatter on the fridge, which looks like it could be cake mix that has dried. And then there's their floor. Numerous tiles are broken apart, from things falling and old age, as well as a broken cup near the sink. It definitely needs a good sweeping, as it looks like it hasn't been tidied up in months. There's clothes in here, too, piled up in baskets by the back door with a few articles falling over the top and onto the floor. I feel really uncomfortable I this place. Partially for the mess, but mostly for the fact that I have no idea where Celes is, and that's dangerous territory. My last sleepover that their house ended with me in the ER for a broken finger. My ring finger still doesn't bend right to this day.

I ask hesitantly, "Where's your mom?"

He gives me a look and starts the microwave with two bowls of spaghetti in it. Then he turns back to me and says in a sassy voice, "She has a new _man_. You know how she is. Hopefully, she won't come all weekend."

Seifer and his mother are like a cat and a dog. And Quistis is like that little mouse who tries to hide in her hole as much as possible. They're a weird family.

I don't eat any of the food, but I do push it around a bit to make it at least _seem _like I did. I don't need him complaining at me about not eating any of it. I didn't even tell him I wanted any. He inhales his, and then goes on Tumblr on his phone. Honestly! He has no self control! Doesn't he know that website is bad for his health?

Quistis comes in a bit later, but when she see's me she immediately does a u-turn and goes back to her room. She's weird. She always has been. She may be the most antisocial person I've met. She is completely devoid of sociable instincts. She also has made some very bad decisions in her life, but she'll never apologize for them. She doesn't need to, because even though she's awkward and young, she knows what she's doing. And she knew what her consequences were when she chose to do what she did. And she has never regretted it, even when her mother found out. Because she had nothing to apologize for, in reality. She was eighteen at the time. She was graduating. And she was more mature than even her own mother at that point.

Seifer gets up and starts walking out, so I take the initiative and follow him. I haven't been in his room at this house. The last time I stayed the night with them, they were in their house on Crenshaw Boulevard, when he locked me outside that night because he knew how scary that street was. I broke my finger that night, too, when he threw a basketball at my face, and I went to catch it. He was really mean growing up.

Seifer's room, right off, makes it apparent that he is a tumblrian. The walls are painted red, and the carpet is a soft brown. The walls are lined with posters and framed artwork, that seem to be drawn pictures of him in all types of different styles. More than likely fan art, which would make sense because people love him on the internet. He surprisingly has a lot of books, even though he doesn't seem like he'd read. This includes the entire series of that Game of Thrones thing, which I personally only watched the show for, because those books are long as all heck. They're like the bible length. I can't imagine him reading all of that. On the other side of the room is his game corner, with all of his many gaming systems on top of his dresser. And then there's the manga. So much manga. He'd always been into that anime crap, but now he has a full bookshelf that comes up to my shoulders full of the books, and another full of video games and those anime DVDs he loves.

Quistis and Seifer are both weird, for the fact that they'd leave their house like a waste dump, but their rooms have always stayed clean. While Seifer's is really jumbled, with no space on any of the surfaces, it's at least clean. There's a pair of pants or a flannel thrown here or there, but everything is organized. And there's nothing on the floor. Not that there's much floor, there isn't too much walking room in here between the sofa, the big ol' desk, the two dressers and his queen sized bed. It wasn't too big of a room in the first place. It's not too big of a house.

His cat saunters in through the doggy door at the bottom of his bedroom door. It stops when it sees me, staring at me, watching me. Seifer picks her up when she starts to walk again and rubs up against his leg. While he's holding her, she glares at me, but purrs.

We sit on his bed and he gets on his laptop after putting on a movie on his Playstation 3 for me. I don't really like the Hellraiser movies, but I will sit here and accept my fate. I could be home right now, watching things on my own Netflix and screwing around on the internet, but _no_. My parents needed 'alone time', and told me that it was rude to bring my laptop to someone's house. So now I'm stuck watching a stupid movie trilogy on Netflix. At least Seifer's mom isn't home, because that would make this ten times worse. I pass the time by sleeping, something I have a talent for now, and going through his things. He has a lot of stuff, so at least that keeps me entertained. I come across a few porn magazines, but he doesn't care. He just doesn't care about anything. I also come across a drawer in his desk full of his sex things, like fuzzy cheetah handcuffs and flavored lubes. I close the drawer immediately, because that is too gross. And then there's the manga. It ranges from what he calls 'hentai' to 'yaoi,' each one even more inappropriate than the last. A few aren't even in English. He has a box full of comic books in his closet and twenty different versions of Monopoly. I want to play the Pokemon addition before I leave.

"Squall's coming over tonight," Seifer calls over to me. Who the heck is Squall? And then I remember that that's Leon's first name, and I snort. "What?"

"I always forget his name is Squall. I thought that he didn't like it when people called him that?"

Seifer shrugs. "I'm special. And I think the name is _sexy_." He tries to keep a straight face, but Seifer has never been unable to laugh at his own jokes. In fact, sometimes he's the only one who does, like now when he ends up laughing and saying, "It's the ugliest fucking name I've ever heard in my life! Can you imagine saying that during sex? Jesus Christ, I know his parents are bad and all, but who the fuck name's their kid's 'Squall'?!"

When it gets dark, I lay face down on his pillows and listen to his story about how he had gotten his job at Burger King. I'm not really listening because he mostly just talks to hear himself, but the story involves tweezers, a pound of weed and a hot girl who lived next door who happened to love porn and be the daughter of the Burger King manager.

"So, anyway, now I'm gonna try to be the manager at the one I work at. If that old fucker ever retires," he finishes up. He's flipping through channels, still talking for the next hour. Then the clock turns eleven and he's still talking. And then twelve. It's officially Saturday now, and I only have the rest of today and then part of tomorrow over here. Great for me.

Seifer falls asleep in the middle of a story, that Doctor Who show playing on the television, his phone on in mid-text next to him. He snores whenever he sleeps on his side. He's always been like that. One time, I was staying the night at his house and he was snoring right in my face so I shoved a pair of his own underwear that I'd gotten off the floor into his mouth. He punched me in the face. He was a really violent six year old.

There was this one time when he put gum in his sister's hair and she had to have her head shaved. And then there was another time when he beat a kid up at daycare with a plastic play bat because he took his _freaking fishy crackers_. The first time he was suspended from school was in second grade when one of the girls was making fun of his girlfriend, so he pulled her hair. And then there was that time in his junior high years when he threw a desk at a teacher. He's violent.

I have to push him onto his back so that I can get under the blankets. Around four in the morning, I get up because I have to pee. While in the bathroom, I hear the front door open and close, and then the jingle of keys. Half asleep, I waddle out of the bathroom fixing my underwear, expecting it to be Seifer's mom Celt's walking down the hall, but whoever it is bumps into something in the dark living room, and that grunt and curse was unmistakeably male. He turns into the hallway and steps on my foot, and when I scream he screams, and he drops his key lanyard, and I cradle my foot into my hand, tears stinging my eyes because that _freaking hurt_.

"God dammit, Richards!" Leon puts a hand over his heart, snarling at me through the darkness. "What the shit are you even doing here?"

I absolutely hate this guy. Especially after he got in that fight with Axel, over a guy that he didn't even like anymore. He's a jerk and I glare back, picking up the lanyard for him. When I hand it to him, I say, "This _is _my cousins' house. You know, the people I'm _related _to."

He snorts and pushes past me, walking down the hall. "I didn't know you could be a smart ass, Richards. You're stepping it up."

He pushes Seifer's door open with his shoulder and turns on the light, uncaring that Seifer was asleep. Seifer grunted from where he was laying on his stomach, his face in the pillow with his arms underneath to push it closer to his face and against the harsh light. He makes a weird noise in his throat and kicks his legs, muttering something along the lines of, "Fuck you guys, I am the night." Leon looks around the room, looking for a path, and then turns the light back off again.

Leon makes himself comfortable on Seifer's computer chair and turns on the desktop. Seifer's laptop is still laying on the bed next to him, his phone on top of it since I moved it. He doesn't move after Leon comes in, just lays there, his shoes and clothes still on, not giving a crap about anything. He's snoring again, even though he's not on his side, and I'm pretty sure he isn't breathing well with his face in the pillow because he's making choking noises in between snores. I should probably do something about it, but if he dies in his sleep there'll be a big insurance policy, and maybe Celes will buy me stuff as an award.

Leon doesn't pay us any mind, and messes around on the internet, eating the Cheetos that were sitting on top of the printer. He doesn't give a crap about anything, either. They make a pretty good couple, these two, when I stop to think about it. They're both scary, they're both brutes and they're both completely uncaring for the people around them.

I don't know how to handle this. So, I just go back to sleep.

The next morning, the bed is considerably smaller than before. This is because Leon is on the other side of Seifer, laying on his side and his arm thrown over Seifer's chest. Seifer's on his back so that he isn't snoring anymore, thank god, but I'm on the side of the bed even though it's pretty big, because Seifer is pretty spread out. It's going on eleven in the morning, and the room is completely dark from the thick black out curtains, save for a Tardis nightlight by the desktop, and the alarm clock on the dresser. I force myself out of bed, because while I really don't want to be up and awake, I also don't want to be cramped on the edge and almost falling off.

The hallway is a heck of a lot brighter. In fact, it hurts my eyes, and gives me a headache. I brush my teeth and wash my face with my overnight toiletries, and then watch TV in the living room until after one when Seifer gets up and cooks for us. Then Leon gets up around three and he and Seifer watch football and drink beer for the rest of the afternoon. It's a recording, and I guess they were both waiting to watch it together. They're both just so freaking manly. It's weird.

Quistis comes out of her room after the game ends and a twelve pack of of beer is gone. She walks past quickly and into the kitchen, but I'm the only one who sees her because Seifer and Leon are too busy sleeping again on the couch, on top of each other. They both sleep more than me.

When she walks back out, holding an armful of food, she see's me and stops walking. "Oh. Uh, hi."

"Hey," I say, looking over her pile. I really hope she doesn't try to eat that whole box of doughnuts and all those chips. "Are you, uh, having a party?"

She shifts her feet, looking more uncomfortable than I am. I'm actually doing pretty good recently with social events and talking to people. I should get a medal. She looks to Seifer and Leon, and her brow creases. "Well, no. I _am _having a friend over, but... Did they really drink all that beer? Seifer shouldn't drink beer, it makes him sick..." She watches the two sleep for a moment before looking to me. "Do you... Do you want to come to my room? While they're sleeping and all... I don't want you to get bored."

"Uh..." I pause. Quistis's room? I'd never been in any of her rooms ever in my life. Actually, I did one time because she had pet turtles and Seifer had dared me to steal one, but I got in really big trouble by my dad for that. Of course, I'm not going to get in trouble for it now, and my dad isn't even around though he is in this city, so what's the harm? "Yeah, sure."

Quistis's room is painted a pale purple. It's really mature, compared to Seifer's, even though they're only a year or two apart. Instead of posters, she has framed paintings and pictures lining her wall, in order from largest to smallest in the middle, and then the largest again. She has a pink makeup vanity with the makeup color coordinated, and the brushes lined up neatly on the side. She's so neat and organized, way different than Seifer. Even her clothes are in here, but instead of being thrown around like Seifer and Celes' in the living room, they're in baskets. She also has a very large pile of text books on top of her stuffed bookcase, next to it files of paper. Even her schoolwork is neat.

She gestures to her massive bed, which is made with a matching white and frilly bed set with about twenty pillows pushed against the headboard in a big collage of pink and white. I sit on the edge and she sits at her vanity, the food in her lap while she adjusts the makeup to one side to make room for the food.

"So," I say, looking around again. She has pet birds in a large cage that's hanging from the ceiling. The two parakeets tweet and jump around, the left wing clipped on both of them. "Those birds are pretty. When'd you get them?"

"Thank you." She looks at me again, and then back at the food she's organizing. I'm starting to think she has OCD. "Your dad got them for me. For my birthday last year."

I pause. "Oh. So you're talking to him, too."

Am I the only person who doesn't want to talk to him? Seifer and Quistis aren't even from that side of my family, they're from my _mom's _side, for Christ's sake! And after everything that guy's done, they still all want to talk to him and be friends with him and I just- god! I just don't understand why!

"Well, he's sick, so we'd feel bad just leaving him," she explains. She opens the bag of Doritos and takes one out, inspecting it before she bites off one of the corners. "He's living just down the street, too, so it's not like we're going out of our way to see him. Well, Seifer might because he goes to the hospital with him sometimes, even though he has things to do, but that's just because he's being nice. Your dad isn't as bad as he used to be."

"Well, I mean, that still doesn't make what he did okay," I say.

She nods. "I know. But he's gotten better, and I think that everyone deserves a second chance."

I don't reply to that, mostly because it kind of insults me. Not _everyone _deserves a second chance. Especially someone like him. No one who abuses drugs _and _women like that deserves a second chance. Not every alcoholic, druggy, woman beater shout get one. And sure, he's dying, but that doesn't mean I have to forgive him. Maybe after he does die, or he's at least on his death bed I will. But for now, I'm not even going to speak to him. And frankly, I don't care if that makes me look bad.

But, no matter what he's done, he doesn't deserve to die.

The thought hits me hard. I have to shake it off, and push the subject out of my head because it's really starting to bother me. Looking back up at Quistis, who is slowly eating and watching me, I ask, "So, who's this friend of your? The one coming over."

She smiles lightly. "Selphie. Do you remember her? She used to come over and help me babysit you when your parents were at work."

Oh, god, Selphie. How could I forget her? She'd always had the biggest crush on Seifer. And Quistis used to get so mad at her for it, because Selphie would go off with him and they kiss up in the tree house while Quistis was stuck watching me. Of course, I didn't like Selphie growing up, mostly for the fact that she'd insist on dressing me up and doing my make up. I still don't like her to this day, even though I haven't seen her since I was thirteen.

Selphie comes in a bit later, having just walked right into the house without knocking, and doing the same with Quistis's room. She's never had manners. She even slams the door and starts shouting as soon as she gets in. "I can't believe it! I've been chasing after that bastard for _sixteen years_, and he goes and turns queer on me!" She puts her hands on her hips, and Quistis smiles and opens the pack of donuts. On her way walking over to get some, Selphie goes on, "Sixteen fucking years. Oh, hey Roxas. Can you believe that, though? Quisty, I'm freaking _insulted_! Am I not _fine _enough for him? Do I not have enough _curves_? These better be jelly filled. They are. Good." She takes a big bite of the donuts, and _still _goes on through a mouthful. "You know that he was with that ratchet ass Rinoa last week at that cheerleader girl's party? I swear to god, I'll mess her and her pretty little face up."

Rinoa also brings back memories. They all used to be a group of friends, but then Rinoa got her daddy-issues in junior high, and they split up. I never liked her, either. She would always make me sit in the same spot and watch cartoons.

Selphie sits down on the bed next to me and sighs loudly, chewing on half a doughnut. She throws one leg over the other, leaning back on one arm, head tilted up slightly. "You know, I always thought he was gay. He was always trying to stick his dick in my butt. And I had a feeling that he was screwing around with that one kid on his team- what's his name? Eh, who cares. But anyway, yeah, I knew he was into guys. So, anyways, who's that guy?"

"Squall Leonhart," Quistis says. "He's from _Hesperia_. Roxas's best friend's brother."

"He's not my best friend," I say. I don't even know how she knew about that.

Selphie wags her eyebrows. "He's pretty cute. Even though he was asleep. And on top of Seifer. Still. He's cute." She leans forward and takes another doughnut from the box on the vanity, and then eats half of it in one mouthful. Then she grabs one of the bags of chips, some Lays, and opens it, eating a handful. "Hey, is Seifer still gonna be helping to coach with the team? I mean, after he graduates."

I look to Quistis who is in the process of debating which bag of chips to open next. She hands me the bag of Doritos, deciding she wants the Ruffles, and looks back to Quistis. "Yeah. You know how he is. Football and internet. That's all he seems to care about. But, yeah he's getting paid to come back and help the coach out for the summer training camp."

Football. I always forget Seifer is in football. Well, _was_ in football, considering that the football season and his high school career is over. He's always liked that sport, because he and his dad, when his own dad was around, would watch the Cowboys games. I think most of the things he does are done out of nostalgia like being on the computer because his brother taught him how to use one years before he'd left, or whoring around because it's what his mom did and still does, and stuff like that gives him a sense of familiarity. At least, that's what his therapist says, according to his mother who had no problem telling everyone when Seifer was in eighth grade. But, past all of that, maybe he just does things to do them. But then again, maybe he isn't as complicated as everyone things. Maybe Seifer is much more simple, and lives in a nice simple bliss. Hey, I should get a job for this stuff.

The next hour is girl talk, which Selphie insists I join in. Give my 'male perspective' on things, such as her relationship with Seifer, which makes me really uncomfortable.

"I mean, what does it mean when he likes to make out with me, but only when he's drunk?" she asks, filing her nails. The box of donuts and two bags of chips are gone now, and we've all moved down to sit on the floor in a circle.

I don't know how to answer that, so I say, "Well, it doesn't seem like he likes you. He just makes out with people because he's a man-whore."

She sighs and drops the nail file in her lap, leaning back on both of her arms. "Yeah, you're right. He's always been like that. And it's not like I'm the only girl he kisses. He was making out with one of the cheerleaders after football practice the other day! And she had the _nerve _to come and tell me about it."

"What a bitch," Quistis agrees. "See, that's why I'm glad I graduated early. I don't have to go through that crap. What about you, Roxas? Have any love drama?"

Do I have any love problems. Please, I practically _invented _love problems. If you look up love problems on Google images, my picture would be the only thing popping up. That's actually a bad example, but still. It's true. How do I answer that? Do I just say 'oh yeah, I really like my step brother'? Nope.

I say, "Not really."

Selphie laughs. "Don't lie! Who's the special little lady, Roxas?"

"You can't just assume he's straight. Not everyone is straight. Check your privilege," Quistis jokes. "His dad always thought he was gay."

I scoff. "I'm not gay."

"Oh, _sure_," Selphie giggles. "Whatever you say, little twink."

Quistis snorts. The last bag of chips is opened, and I wondered for a moment where my life had gone wrong when I helped two girls finish three bags of chips and a box of donuts, on their bedroom floor as they call me gay, and one of them keeps speaking sexually of my cousin to my other cousin. And this is the highlight of my week, because nothing is going good for me right now. Oh, god, I am so done. I just want to go home and die, or go back to sleep or something. I don't know. _Anything_. This suddenly isn't fun anymore. I don't need to be in here with these chicks, hearing all their girl talk. I'm probably getting gayer by the minute, which I really don't need. I think I have enough gay in my life right now.

There's a knock on the door and Seifer pushes it open with his shoulder. Selphie giggles and gives a girly finger wave, but he just nods his head at her and looks to Quistis and I. "We got some In-n-Out, if you guys wanna come out and get some. Oh, and mom's coming home tonight. She called and stuff, so eat whatever you can now, before she gets to it." He sees the empty bags and box, and says, "Oh. Never mind. You already have that handled."

We all eat in the living room while watching the first X-Men movie, which Seifer still has on VHS for whatever reason. I'm actually surprised that Quistis and Selphie can eat more, but I'm even more surprised that Quistis is out of her room and hanging out with us. Selphie's always been able to take her out of her bubble.

Seifer's mom comes home, and Quistis and Selphie immediately get up and leave to go wherever. Celes looks all dolled up, but it's easy to tell that she's high off of _something_, which is more than likely either marijuana or some of those pain pills she's always popped. Seifer gives her the dirtiest look he can, but she doesn't acknowledge him. Instead, she looks to where I'm sitting at the edge of the couch and smiles at me, patting my head as she passes by. She pulls of her silky scarf and throws it on a pile of clothes, the one that we had made by moving all of the clothes from the couch we're sitting on to the floor in the corner. She finally looks at Seifer with a sharp snarl. "Hey, you little shit. I told you to do laundry while I was gone."

"I didn't have time," he replies.

"I was gone for a _week_."

"It was a busy week."

She shakes her head. "I fucking hate this. Could you be any more useless? I mean, come on!" She kicks the pile and clothes fly towards the direction of the hallway.

"Hey, hey," Seifer says. "I worked hard making that pile. Go be a three year old somewhere else."

She walked into the kitchen, but she ended up making a u-turn and coming back into the living room right after. Seifer groaned and lolled his head on the back of the couch so that he could watch her walk around and in front of the TV. She used to back of her foot to turn it off, her finger in the air and her arm at an angle as she pointed at Seifer. "You know what, I don't need your fucking sass! I work _too damn hard _for this family!"

"Are you fucking kidding me? You don't even have a _job_! We live off of food stamps and Social Security, mom." She went to cut in, and quickly cuts her off."Oh, and the water company came by the other day, while you were out _fucking _people. I had to pay _another _one of your bills. You know, on top of the ones I _already_ pay."

I hate this family. And from the look Leon is giving the ceiling, he probably feels the same way. Celes retreats back into the kitchen and eats whatever is left in the fridge, while Seifer has to get up and turn the TV back on because the remote doesn't do it. When he sits back down, he throws his arms over the back of the couch and over both my own and Leon's shoulders. We finish the movie, but by then it's late and Seifer has fallen asleep again, leaning into Leon. He woke up when his mom started screaming about someone eating the rest of the Oreos.

"You little shits! How the fuck do you eat two boxes of Oreos in a week?! They were the big size! They were from Costco!"

And then there was the college thing.

"You really need to start applying to colleges, Seifer. You're not gonna be doing nothing with your life," she said towards the end of the movie.

Seifer sighed and said, "Mom, no college is going to accept me!"

"You haven't applied to any," she shouts. This would be a whole lot easier if they were at least in the same side of the house, and she wasn't all the way back in her room. "Wazzu accepts anybody. That's where your father went!"

"Okay, for one, we don't even know who my dad is. And that college is in fucking _Washington_, woman!"

"I'd rather you be in Washington. I thought you hipster Tumblr freaks liked Seattle and coffee shops?"

He sighs. "Mom, have you seen the grades I've had since sixth grade? I'm lucky I'm even _graduating_."

Instead of sleeping in his bed, Seifer takes all of the extra blankets around the house and makes a bed on the floor. There's a lot of blankets, too, so it's actually really comfortable. And there's more room for us all on the floor bed, so I'm not completely on the edge when we sleep. They snuggle up together, which would actually be pretty cute if it wasn't _Leon _laying with his head on my cousin's chest.

That night I fell asleep with Seifer on the other side of the blankets. This morning, when his phone went off playing that Milkshake song rather loudly, he was laying over me with his legs on Leon. He threw his hand out to look for his phone, which was on top of the coffee table that we had pushed aside for the bed. Because of this, he had to climb over me to get it, and ended up kneeling on top of my stomach for a moment as he reached for it. He sits on his butt when he answers on the last ring, legs an arch over my body. I roll under him and bury my face into the pillow, trying to go back to sleep.

"Yeah?" he answers, his voice cracking from the early morning exertion. "Oh, hi, Mr. Roland. Come in? I, uh... I have some people over. My cousin and my, um... Yeah, yeah I want to keep my job, but..." He sighs. "Yes, sir. I'll be in within the hour. Alright, half hour." Another pause. "Fine. _Twenty minutes_. Got it."

He sighs and hangs up, throwing the phone on the couch before using the couch arm to stand himself up. He yawns, rubs his face, and looks down at me. Leon is sitting up and rubbing his eyes, but I prop myself up on my forearms so that I can look at Seifer. "Hey, I gotta go into work. My boss is flipping shit because someone called in sick."

"At burger king?" I ask.

"No, no," he shakes his head as he looks for his pants. I think most of the guys I know just sleep in their underwear. "I had to take up another job at this furniture place down the street. My boss likes to yell at me in Spanish so I don't know what he's saying. Anyway, go back to sleep. I'll be back in a few hours."

He leaves in the same clothes he was wearing yesterday, because he doesn't have time to change. Leon gets up with him, and they kiss and stuff before Seifer leaves, but then Leon falls asleep on the couch watching Maury on the DVR. I stay up and watch it for awhile, but I realize that it's like, five in the morning so I fall back to sleep. When I wake back up, Leon is gone and it's just me and Celes. I'll just pretend to be asleep. That's the plan until she sees me awake and says, "Hey, boo boo, could you do me a favor?"

That's how I ended up washing their disgusting dishes. These people are going to be the death of me. Thankfully, she ends up leaving too so I just finish the dishes and sit down to watch more TV. The bad thing is that it leaves me alone to think, and my thinking hasn't been good this last day.

My mind wanders to the thought of my real dad, and how badly I want to punch him in the face.

I still can't get over the fact that he and Seifer are like butt buddies now. I can take Seifer being nice to him because he's dying, but from what I hear Seifer is too close to him for comfort. He brings food to him _every day _for crap's sake.

Later that day, around one or so, I'm eating straight out of the fridge when the house phone goes off. It's hooked up on the counter across from me, so I have no problem answering it, still with a mouth full of cold cake when I answer, "Hello?"

-Who the hell is this?-

I pause. I know this voice well. I haven't heard it in six years, but I know it. I should just hang up, throw the phone somewhere. Ironic how I was just thinking about this bastard that he'd call. "Why are you calling here?"

-Now, hold on a minute. Who the fuck is this?- There's a long pause as I don't answer. Then comes his voice again. -Well, I'll be strapped to a bus and fucked by a hooker. Is this Roxas? How ya been, boy? How's your mother?-

"Like you give a shit," I hiss into the mouth piece.

There's a series of tsks on the other end. I can hear him chewing that godawful chewing tobacco that he loves, and the sound of him spitting it undoubtedly into a plastic bottle like he used to. My dad says, -Come on, did I raise you to talk like that?-

"You didn't raise me at all."

There's a sigh now. -Come on, I had you until you were ten.-

"You had me until I was _eight_," I correct. "You just kidnapped me twice until I was ten."

-It's not kidnapping if I'm your father.-

"It is if the court says you can't come near me." He pauses at that. Then he tries to start up again, but I hang up on him and throw the phone on the counter. I hate him. I honest to god hate that man. I'm never going to feel bad for not visiting him. I know it sounds bad, but I don't give a flying crap if he's dying. And I don't care at all if that makes me sound like a bad person. Or a spoiled brat, or a jerk, or anything else Seifer called me growing up. I just don't feel anything for him other than immense anger.

The phone rings again and it's him calling back. Cid Richards has always been persistent. Of course, he changed his last name since then, because _Highwind_ fits his personality much better. He also didn't want people from high school looking him up. Like they'd want to, though. The last person who looked him up and found him wanted to fight him, and that didn't work out well for either of them.

I just want to go home. When Seifer gets home, I'm sitting on the couch and eating ice cream from the container. He gives me a weird look and kicks off his shoes at the door, throwing them next to his mom's heels. I look back down at the tub, because I don't want to look at him right now. I'm just really upset, okay? I think I have the right to be.

"Hey," he says. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, fine..." I throw the spoon in the tub and put the tub on the floor by me feet. "I just... Can you take me home? I really want to go home."

He frowns. "I guess. I mean, it shouldn't be a problem because Axel went home early, too. And your parents texted me, and they're at some hotel, so it should be fine. But, like, what's up? You were fine when I left. You were _sleeping _when I left, but still."

I sigh and pup my elbow up on the couch arm, rubbing my forehead. "Nothing. I just need to go home. I don't feel good."

"Okay, well I'm gonna change first. And then we can go." He walks out, and a few minutes later when he comes back in he's wearing sweatpants and flip flops with a Squirtle shirt on, talking on his cell phone, carrying my bag for me. He motions for me to follow him out, and I leave the tub on the floor because it's empty and there's trash everywhere else so it doesn't matter. I follow him outside, and then get into the passenger's side of the car. When he starts it, I jump at the sudden loud music, and he turns it down and continues his phone conversation. I assume he's talking to Leon, because he's saying things like, "I'll be back soon. In the back yard? That's _dirty_. Oh, yeah, wear that. That'd be too hot." At least, I hope he's talking to Leon. Or maybe he's talking to some girl, or one of his sexy, tan Venice boys that he loves so much. It's actually really gross to be able to hear his conversations, to be honest.

He eventually stops talking, and we drive in complete silence. He occasionally screams out his window for someone cutting him off or hitting their brakes, but other than that he doesn't say anything. And I don't even look at him. I can't tell if I'm mad or sad. I'm just really, _really _done. For two years now, I have put up with crap I don't deserve. And for sixteen, I have put up with a dad that I don't deserve. I haven't really talked to my cousins until recently, when Seifer suddenly showed up in my life again, which is more than suspicious. And now I'm going home to my stepbrother who I want to kiss and punch all at the same time. I can handle my cousins talking to my dad, but I guess actually hearing his voice pushed me a nudge too far. Right now, all I want to do is go home and sleep with Axel and my dog.

He looks to me for a quick second before looking back to the car. "Hey, are you gonna tell me what's up? I mean, you were fine, and then you were- Hey, mother fucker! That's not your fucking lane!" he screams out the window. Then he looks back to me and gives a quick apology. "Sorry, it's in my blood. Anyway, what happened? Are you okay?"

I still don't look at him. "I'm fine."

"Well, what happened? Are you sick? Do you want me to stop at Rite Aid or something?"

"_I'm fine_." I finally look to him and narrow my eyes.

He sighs, annoyed, and says, "Listen. I don't know _what _you were doing the whole time I was gone, but what happened? Like, being completely serious, what the shit happened? I mean, I know I'm an ass and all, but you can tell me these things. If they don't involve your love life, I'm good. So, what's up?"

I sigh, giving in. I look away from him again, leaning my forehead against the cool car window. There's a car broken down on the side of the freeway, and at least I'm not them, sitting in the hot California heat. It could be worse, I guess. "I talked to my dad today."

Seifer looks at me again, and says, "Oh, shit. I forgot he was gonna call today. He needed a ride to the dispensary on the corner. I mean, not a weed- fuck it. Anyway, what happened?"

I shrug. "Nothing. I just hung up with him after a minute, so we didn't say much."

"Well, hey, I'm sorry. I completely forgot he was gonna call, and that I was even supposed to give him a ride. It's just been a... a busy week, y'know? I haven't really been thinking straight. I have a lot of shit going on. But I'm getting off track. You're not mad at me, are you?"

"No," I lied. "I just really, really hate him. And I don't know why you're talking to him. I mean, he's not even from your side of the family."

"He's _dying_, Roxas," he says, almost nagging. "He has fucking sick, okay? I mean, shit. And he lives around the corner, and I can't just ignore him. And he's a hell of a lot cooler than most of the guys I know. Oh, and he's fun to smoke with. But we don't mention that, because he's the one with the med card, not me. Goddamn, I am really getting of topic. What I _mean _to say is that there are some people, in certain situations, that you just have to momentarily forgive. It's not like I forgot about all the shit he's done to you guys. I actually have a pretty great memory, once it gets past all the weed and booze. But I'm also a nice guy, and his only ride to the hospital and stores. He lost his job because he can't work, and you can't even talk to him on the phone. I mean, I don't even _have _a dad. My last name was just a guess, from the most recent guy my mom had been fucking at the time. Oh, and he was Mexican, and as you can see I am not_ Mexican._ I wish I was, though. Spanish is such a great language, and I had to take French for two years 'cause it was the only thing opened when I turned in my high school papers. But, _anyway_, so yeah, you should talk to him a bit more. I mean, he's getting worse and worse. Have you seen that movie Philadelphia? With Tom Hanks?"

I frown. "The one where he has aids? Yeah."

"Sad movie, right?"

"Well, yeah, but-."

"Nope. But nothing. Sure, that guy was nice and your dad has been a dick probably since he was born, but he's dying and he needs family. And you should hear the way he talks about you. He still shows off that wallet sized school picture from when you were in like, third grade. You haven't changed much since then, by the way."

My frown deepens. I rub my forehead, a headache coming up on me as the day grows later and past four. I reflect on what he says, but only for a moment before I shut the 'maybe I should forgive him' thought off. "No. No, he doesn't deserve it. He didn't deserve it when he was doing drugs and beating the hell out of my mom, and he doesn't deserve it now."

"Fuck yeah, he doesn't _deserve _it. But it's the right thing to do, okay?"

"I don't care if it's the _right goddamn thing to do_!"

After that, we don't talk at all. When he pulls up to my house, I don't even thank him as grab my bag, jump out and slam the car door shut. I throw the front door open and slam it even louder, glad that my parents aren't home. And then I go into my room, throw my bag somewhere and throw myself on my bed. Precious had followed me in and jumped up on the bed near my face, trying to lick it, but I swat her away and turn my head the other direction.

And now all I can think about is my dad.

Okay, I know I have a really rude attitude towards the subject. But people just don't understand what I went through in my life with him. I was able to take all of his drug abuse. I could also take the fact that my mom didn't even live him, and only stayed with him because she'd gotten pregnant with me. But then when she tried to leave her, and he beat her up so badly that she had to go to the hospital, there was really no way of forgiving him.

When my mom got full custody of me in the divorce, he tried to kidnap me and take me up to his parent's house in Montana. Of course, he's an idiot and stopped for directions and food at a gas station, right in front of where my mom was working at the time, who actually didn't know that he had taken me because the babysitter hadn't told her yet. And then there was the restraining order, and he tried to take me _again _after picking me up from school. That time my mom punched him in the face in front of his own house, which he had taken me back to like a idiot. I mean, Jesus. Who would want to kidnap me? I'm sure he has other kids somewhere.

And then he got cancer. Lung cancer, actually, from smoking. And he doesn't have health insurance, and refuses Obamacare, so now he's basically dying. And right now, I'm fine with that. If he hadn't gone around smoking two packs a day, then this wouldn't have happened.

There's a knock on my door, but I don't respond so Axel just opens it and walks in. "Hey, what's up with you?"

"I talked to my dad," I mumbled into my pillow.

"Aww." He closes my door behind him and comes to my bed, hopping in with me. He knows how to cheer me up. He throws an arm over my back and pulls me closer to him, nuzzling his face into my neck. "If it makes you feel any better, I love you, and your dad's an ass."

"I know," I say, responding to both. "Thanks."

And we just lay like that. Who needs therapy when I can just take a nap with Axel?

I guess I don't really have to think about my dad too much right now. I already have enough on my plate. So, right now, I'm just going to focus on my love life, and how I'm going to make it through the rest of high school without emotionally hurting myself too badly.

**~o~ **

**A/N**

**Another important, emotional note by me. **

**So, as you guys know, I lost my uncle recently. I have also just lost my dog, who I loved more than anything. This year, I have lost two puppies, one who I nursed from birth because he for some reason didn't know how to breast feed, and another who had gotten parvo and I spent every moment with until he died. Then I lost one of my three dogs to the dog pound, because we were only allowed two dogs, and he was a pit bull so they wouldn't put him up for adoption. After that, I lost my dear uncle Jeff. And today, my sweet little chihuahua, who I take everywhere with me, and who sleeps in the bed every night, died in one of the most horrible ways possible. **

**I can honestly say that this year, especially these last few months, has not been ideal. However, you guys always make me smile. So, thank you guys so much. I will never abandon this story or my readers. I absolutely love my all of you, and you guys have really helped me through this year.**

**Happy holidays, guys. And I hope you have a great new year, and that 2013 brings all of you happiness. **

**I'll see you guys soon.**

**Review~!**


	19. Junior Year

**~o~ Here's nineteen! Warning: There's a smut scene this chapter. ~o~**

I'm Roxas and this is my first day of junior year.

First days are always the worst. You get all new classes, with all new people, and if you're unlucky enough you get a class full of people who have known each other for years, while you're there all alone without a single person to talk to. That happens more often than not for me, so as you can imagine, I'm not exactly enthusiastic about the new school year.

My day starts off with the annoying blare of my alarm clock, repeating _beep, beep, beep, _each sharp beep getting higher in octave until it's unbearable. It's the first time I'd heard it in two months, and it's even more annoying than it had been before. I hit it hard with my hand and drag myself out of bed and into the kitchen, where Axel was already sitting at the table, dressed and eating while looking over his new class schedule. We'd gotten them in the mail a week ago, but he refuses to show me his on the excuse of "not wanting me to see which classes he's repeating". Of course, I don't see why he'd _tell _me that he's repeating classes, if he didn't want me to know. I guess it's about the specific classes he's been doomed to repeat. In turn, I hadn't shown him my schedule, either, but it's more out of spite than anything.

I'm still angry with him, as you can imagine. I haven't been able to get over the fact that he's dating my (former) best friend. On top of that, they went out together all the time during the break, making me undeniably jealous. I hadn't seen much of Axel all summer, honestly, because that little dickwad Sora took him from me. I hope they break up soon. It's an awful thing to think, I know, but who cares? I'm being selfish, and it's okay to be selfish sometimes.

"If you keep making that face, it'll get stuck like that." I turn the glare that was directed at my cereal to Axel and Seifer, only to be met by a smug grin and a mouth full of Malt-o-Meal. I don't even know why Seifer is here. He just shows up randomly now. Axel says, "That's usually a warning to stop making that face, but that works too."

"I'm not making a face," I say, even though I'm obviously making a face. I look to only Seifer now, who looks even more tired than me. His mouth hangs open partially, chewed up meal in his mouth, eyes close while he leans on one hand. Axel woke him up with his alarm clock, as Seifer was sleeping on his floor after climbing through his window from a long night of partying. Now he's hungover and tired. "Is he okay? Is he _dead_?"

Nudging him with an elbow, Axel snorted when Seifer only swayed. "Probably."

First days of school are, to repeat myself, always the worst. Getting in the van to leave, we leave Seifer passed out at the kitchen table. We stop to get doughnuts before school, his treat of course, but it's mostly just procrastination. Even though it's his first day of senior year, he _still _doesn't want to go to school. When we finally pull up into the school parking lot, I realize that I really, really did not miss this place. Even though I had nothing to do all summer, save for hanging out with Xion and Kairi while Axel was out with Sora, sitting at home bored and alone was a thousand times better than going to school.

My schedule for the year promises failing grades and tears: first period Geometry, then English III, Human Biology, American History, teachers assistant for my old science teacher, and then finally I have French II for sixth period. This is going to be a long year. At least I have French with Axel.

Kairi meets up with me at the front gate, something she planned out a month ago. She didn't want to take the chance of walking around campus alone on the first day of school, now that her group disowned her since Sora dropped her as his best friend. I feel kind of bad, because the only reason they stopped talking was because she started talking to me. I mean, I don't feel _that _bad because it was her choice, and if he's going to be a jerk like that then they obviously weren't as close as they seemed. Plus, she doesn't seem all that torn up about the end of the friendship. She's more upset about the fact that she'd thought they were really close, but now it seems like they weren't close at all. That, and the fact that she lost almost all of her 'friends' and is completely stuck with me.

So, it's just us now, because I don't have any friends, either. It's kind of sad, really. How could I go this whole time with only one friend? I mean, I know I'm not a social person, or really even that nice, but how the heck can I have no friends when I've been going to school for eleven years? It's almost pathetic.

When the bell rings for the beginning of school, Kairi groans and forces me to walk her to her class up in the S buildings. Then I have to go to my W building class, in the upper campus where the classrooms are all portables. I walk through the door right as the bell rings, and sigh. It should be illegal to have a math class this early in the morning. The classroom is too bright, and the desks are positioned in four table groups, meaning that I have to actually _sit _by someone, which I really don't want to do. On top of that, because I came in pretty late, all of the desirable seats are taken. This leaves me with very little options; I could sit with a group of rowdy sophomores, who I can already tell are on a power trip with the newly found high school status, or two little freshman who are sitting in the back corner, who seem like they would actually do their work, and hopefully let me copy when I need to.

The two freshman, a girl and a boy, were talking together before I sat down. When I do, they both turn to me and stared. "Uh," I pause, unsure of why they look so shocked. "Hi."

The girl points her pen at me and says, "You have great bone structure! Wow, look at those eyes!" She elbows her friend. "They're super blue. Are those contacts?"

"And your hair is so blonde! Do you bleach it?" the other asks.

I go to stand up. "Yeah, I'm not sitting here."

"No, wait!" The boy reaches across and pulls me down by me wrist. "Come on, we're complimenting you. Stay awhile"

"I'd rather not."

"Too bad. I'm Hayner," he points a thumb at himself, and then at his companion. "This is Olette. We're freshman, too. But, we don't recognize you, and you have a pretty memorable face. A pretty _and _memorable face. What junior high did you go to?"

Taken aback for a moment, I'm horrified that they assumed that I was one of _them_. A _freshman_. Do I look like a snot-nosed fourteen year old? Sure, I'm in a freshman-sophomore class, and yeah I may look a little young, but I am so not a freshman, and the assumption insults me. "You think I'm a _freshman_?"

Hayner blinks at me. "Well, yeah. You're not? Are you a sophomore?"

"I'm a junior." I'm so done with these two.

"Then why are you in a freshman class?" Olette asks. "Are you slow? You seem like you'd be pretty smart. I guess looks can be deceiving, huh?" She laughs.

I hate them.

**~o~**

The rest of the day goes by painfully slow. English is with a teacher that I've been warned about since I started high school, of who has been working at the school since it first opened. I know immediately why I was warned, too. I think she's slow, and she definitely has Alzheimer's or something along those lines. She also thought that I was her grandson, and that was pretty awkward. My human biology class was so far in the back of the school and hidden from the world that I had to have a proctor show me where it was. The teacher gave us work on the first day, and he's a newer teacher, pretty young and actually pretty handsome. He had the ladies swooning already. For my American History class, I have a football coach as my teacher. Lucky me. He's completely terrifying; big and sweat, shaved head, tattoos showing underneath the short sleeves of his HHS football shirt. He screamed at the class on the first day, and I'm not even sure why. All I know is that he scares me, and I almost cried. That class is going to be the worst class of my year, I can already tell, because not only is Riku in it, who I really haven't seen much of lately, but so is Sora. He had no problem sitting off in a corner with his friends to talk about me, too. I really do hate him. How rude can someone get?

I spend lunch with Kairi. We relocated from our spot on the quad to the upper campus, away from Axel's table. Neither of us could stand to sit around there and watch Sora throw himself on Axel, so we moved as far away as possible. That meant moving up to the higher campus, where there are spots under trees in the grass. We found a nice spot, and Kairi ran a bunch of freshman out of it like a vicious dog.

"It's pathetic, really," Kairi tells me through a mouth full of salad, making a face while she waves her spork in the air. She swallows and goes on, "He's doing it just to piss you off! Sora, I mean. I bet he thinks that you'll get mad because he's your brother." I give her a look over my pizza. "Sorry. _Step _brother. Anyway, he's probably trying to make you-know-who jealous, too. God knows why. I believe in freedom to fuck who you want, but there's a certain unhealthiness to fucking your brother. Those two are like poison to each other. It's not healthy."

"Well, that's a lost cause," I say bitterly, throwing the remainder of my pizza onto my tray. "Seifer's pretty serious about him. He's never stayed with anyone for longer than three months, even in his little open relationships like this. Seifer doesn't let anything he wants go, believe me. We've had fist fights over toys growing up because he wouldn't let them go. Really, though, I don't see why Leon would dump _that _hot piece of meat for someone like Sora," I end sarcastically.

Kairi snorts. "No kidding. Seriously, your cousin is pretty hot. If I didn't renounce men, and went for guys who went both ways, because I don't, I'd jump up on that big daddy di-."

"Don't finish that sentence."

The next class is my TA period, where I sit at my teacher's desk all period and staple anything the teacher puts in front of me. I took a teacher's assistant period because I figured that it would give me a break from the morons I have to interact with in all of my other classes. This one is supposed to make my day a little less annoying, and make me a lot less angry during the day.

I was wrong.

_They're _here. Those freshmen from my math class, only there's one more of them now. Reinforcements, they outnumber me three to one. The new one is a chunky little thing, round of face with squinted eyes, a candy bar freshly opened and in his hand. They come and sit in the desk closest to the teacher's, across from me with two in the front row and one behind. Hayner is obviously the leader of this group, having lead the way into the class as well as over to the desks.

"Hey, math buddy!" Hayner greets me. I glower. "Why you looking so grumpy? Or are you always just pissed off?"

"I'm always just pissed off." Which is true.

Hayner laughs, like I said a joke. "Delightful. Anyway, this is Pence. He's our third musketeer. The Moe to our Larry and Curly."

Pence raises one of his hands in greeting, the other shoving the Snickers bar into his mouth. He doesn't seem to have a big mouth like the other two in his group. Actually, he doesn't seem to talk much at all. That means that he probably won't insult me all too much, unlike his friends, who seem to insult me with every word that comes out of their mouths.

Swallowing the bite of candy, he licks his teeth and says, "You're small."

I hate them all.

**~o~**

French II is the class I've been dreading the most. It's in the P buildings near the gate for the outer sports fields. The walls inside of the portable classroom are all painted different, bright colors, like neon green, bright red and a glowing blue. The desks are put into groups, four desks to each group like in my math class. I had this class with Sora last year, back when we were still friends. The class is still exactly the same, right down to the piece of gum Sora had stuck to the back wall when we sat in the back group of tables. The teacher, Mr. Luxord, hated us last year. Mostly because Sora called him a British wanker with a gambling addiction. I know by the look that he gives me over a hand of cards from his desk that he still doesn't care for me.

Taking my old seat in the back, I'm a bit nostalgic about all the times I've spent with Sora in this class. I hadn't thought much of them last year, but I guess now, they can be considered precious memories. We've always had good times together, ever since elementary school. I miss him.

Though, not enough to forgive him. I don't think I could ever forgive him. After all the things I told him about Axel and I, I can't believe that he would go off and _date _him. I had figured that they wouldn't be together for long. Sora's attention span for love interests who aren't Leon is very short, ranging anywhere from two days to two months. However, that obviously isn't the case this time around, and I'm losing my patience with waiting.

The object of my sexual confusion walks through the door, talking with that stuck up blonde prick that I thankfully haven't seen for quite a long time. Cloud regards me with a cold stare, while Axel greets Mr. Luxord. "Hey, Luxord! You haven't changed at all since freshman year. Except that goatee- is that a _wedding _ring?"

Glancing down at his hand, Mr. Luxord snorted. "A lot of things happen in two years. How have you been, Axel? And of course, Cloud. Neither of you came to visit my class since you left it, I was worried. I expected at least one of the hooligans in your group to return to me and be my TA. How's your French?"

"As awful as ever, sir," Cloud replies. I'd forgotten how perfect he is. He has the face of an angel, voice as smooth as a porn star's, and on top of that he has the body of a god. He could be an actor, or maybe a model. He's going to get far in life because of his looks. It must be nice to be pretty.

They, of course, sit next to me. Axel sits across from me, and cloud sits next to him while he glowers over at me.

"Hey, I almost forgot we had this class together," Axel says. He looks around the slowly filling classroom, which is mostly sophomores coming in from their first year of French.

Cloud looks around, too, but only for a second before he says, "Do you think Larxene is taking the class? It was always our plan, and she's not the type to just not sign up because of whatever happened between you two."

"I really, _really _hope she doesn't come," Axel mumbles back.

I ask, "What plan?"

Axel rubs the back of his neck, glancing at Cloud. "Well, freshman year we had a whole group of friends in this class. French one, I mean. It was me, Cloud, Leon and of course Larxene, back before she went all cray cray and tried to kill me. There were others too, but we didn't really include them to the little plan. Anyway, somehow we all passed, but I can't remember how, honestly."

"It's because Larxene actually fucking learned French," Cloud said.

"Right, right. We kind of just copied her all year. But, yeah, so none of us wanted to take it anytime soon because that year took a toll on us. I mean, that year was fucking crazy. I've never been kicked out of the same class so many times. So we all agreed to take it for sixth period our senior year. Of course, Leon isn't even _here _anymore, and I avoid Larxene as much as I can."

When the minute bell rang, Cloud looked over to the door. "Maybe she's not coming." Right as he says that, however, she comes running up the ramp of the portable and busts into the classroom, the door hitting the wall loudly. Everyone looks her way now. Cloud sighs. "Well, fuck me. Never mind."

Larxene is still as beautiful as ever, even now when she's hutched over to catch her breath from running to get to class on time. She's wearing cut of jean shorts, which ride low on her hips to show off some skin below the hem of her yellow tank top. Her left All Star is untied, the high tops brand new. She has a large 'Barbie' necklace on, golden and covered in pink stones. She says, "Hey, Luxord! Whoa, is that a goatee? And a _wedding ring_?"

Cloud laughs and elbows Axel in the side. "You two are meant to be!"

Axel doesn't think it's as funny, and sneers at him. "Ha-fucking-ha. She better not sit with us."

"I feel like this is _Mean Girls_," Cloud laughs again. He mocks the voice of a high pitched girl, "_You can't sit with us_!"

I snort and cover my mouth. I refuse to laugh at anything _he _says, but _Mean Girls _jokes are my weakness. It's one of my favorite movies.

Larxene scans the class for a seat, and then zones in on the seat next to me. She comes over, ignoring the looks that Axel and Cloud are giving her. Putting a hand on the back of the seat, she asks me, "Can I sit here?"

"No," Axel says automatically.

She turns to him and bats her eyelashes. "Please?"

"We would let you, but I'm afraid that this is the VIP table," Cloud tells her.

"That means no bitches allowed," Axel includes. He's so sexy when he's pissed off. She sits down, despite their words. "Larxene, what the fuck."

"I just can't stay away from you, baby. You know how I feel about you." She makes a kissy face, and then turns to me. "He's so mean to me! I don't even know why. I've always treated him so well!"

Cloud rolls his eyes at her. You locked him in a closet when he came out. I get the ironic humor, I mean that's pretty funny, but I don't think it can be considered _'treating him so well!'_"

"And you convinced me to get into the pool at Sarah Rivera's party," Axel points. "I almost drowned."

"Hey, you're the one who decided to get in!" she defends.

"I was drunk! Of _course _I went in when you told me to!"

Cloud chuckles at a particularly funny memory. "Remember when she played that raunchy Japanese porn over the projector in here, and Luxord thought it was you?"

"And I got suspended!" He groans, and points at me. "And his mom grounded me for two months! That's around the time I snuck out to go to that party that Larxene tried to drown me at."

They all laugh. It must be nice to have a full group of friends, to have memories with them all that you can recall. All of my memories are with Sora, a few more recent ones with Kairi and Xion. None of them are worth recalling, none funny or quirky at all. I don't do much, I guess. I should get out more often.

Just like last year, Mr. Luxord doesn't have any actual teaching on his regiment. He mostly sits at his desk and plays solitaire, or watches movies on his tablet. He's good for about two short lectures a week, and then the other three days are either packets and worksheets, or movies with French subtitles. He has a habit of giving us random, big point tests, expecting us to just know French, and gives us homework every night. Those are the only reasons anyone would fail this class. Sora failed this class.

There I go, thinking about him again. I just need more friends, that's all. Like Axel, only with a lot less drama and drinking. Unfortunately, I don't have a lot of options with friends. I'm not social enough to just talk to someone, and most people don't like me already because I'm cold, or they've heard about how rude I am. So, this leaves me with one option.

I need to be nice to those freshmen.

**~o~**

"Don't get me wrong, I think it's awesome that you're being nice to us and want to hang out, but _why_?" Hayner asks me, as if I have some sort of ulterior motive for going to the mall with them. I stare at him, sipping slowly from my Jamba juice. I mean, a week ago you wanted nothing to do with us."

I continue to sip on my drink while we walk through the mall. I met this group a week ago, on the first day of school, and I honestly can't stand them, but they like me for some reason, and I need friends.

I say, "I don't have any friends. You're my only hope for a social life."

Olette and Pence trail behind us, talking about the newest DC game that came out. This leaves me alone with Hayner in the front of our little caravan. Outside of school, they're not as rude, and don't call me small or dumb or anything like that. They're nothing like me, though. Of course, neither is Kairi, but at least she and I both like to sit around and talk crap all day. This group is more into talking about video games and movies than people. I guess it's refreshing, and it's pretty interesting to seem them react to each other's opinions, and yell at each other about which character feels what, and who they ship with who. They would get along well with Seifer.

"We should go see a movie," Olette told us. "There's a new one out with that cutie pie from that show on old Disney. I want to see it."

"I'm down! Roxas, you down?" Hayner asks me.

I reflect on the amount of money I have with me. Oh, that's right. None. I spent whatever I had on that Jamba juice. "I'm broke."

Hayner gives me a pitiful look and pats my shoulder. "You poor thing. So naïve to the way of our group. We got chu, man! We _got _chu!"

From observation, these three are really close. They take care of each other, like a weird little family. They spend money on each other, and they throw their money together to buy us all a good supply of food and candy for the movie from the concession stand. Through the movie, they throw popcorn into each other's mouths, cheering whenever one of them caught one. They laughed so much and were so loud during the movie that we almost got kicked out of the theatre. This trip was just a recon, to see how they all act and what kind of friendship they have. For now, I was just watching them screw around, waiting to make my decision, but they seem like they're a lot of fun, and I might stick around.

They're friendly.

They're close.

They're willing to pay for me.

This may work out.

After the movie, they lead the way out, debating with each other about the movie's ending. I don't even know how they managed to get this much information out of the movie, with how much they talked through it. They're nothing like Kairi and Xion. The girl's are more into fighting over stupid things, and then making up and making out in front of me. They don't understand the concept of 'behind closed doors'. They're out and proud and everyone and their mom knows that they're dating.

We all got Starbucks and waited for our rides outside the mall, on the benches they have by the ashtrays. I'm waiting for Axel, who had graciously volunteered to drive me. It was a ploy, of course, so that he could buy a ticket to a midnight premiere movie he's sneaking out to next Thursday. I texted him about twenty minutes ago, so he should be here soon.

"What are you doing next weekend, Roxas?" Olette asks me from the end of the row, sitting on the edge of the bench.

"Nothing," I reply.

She smiles at me. "Once a month, we all get together at someone's house and watch hours of a certain TV show. Next week is at my house, and we're starting Breaking Bad. You should come."

"Uh, yeah, sure. I'll come," I accept. Did I just sell my soul to this group?

Hayner says, "And next month we're watching Sons of Anarchy at my place."

Sons of Anarchy.

Oh, yeah. I can dig this group.

**~o~**

Axel and I always do our French homework together. It's the only free time we have to spend with each other, even though it doesn't exactly fall into the 'free time' category. Tonight is a Monday, so we're both tired as all hell, and it's turning on ten o'clock. I'm getting a headache trying to translate this French packet out of our textbook into English. Surprisingly, Axel is better at this class than me. I guess he's not as academically challenged as he used to be. How cute.

"You know, you _could _just translate this whole thing and let me copy you later," I say jokingly, setting my hand on his upper arm.

"But then how would you learn this valuable language?" he returns. "You're gonna need to know French to get along in life."

He's so cute. Why does he have to be so cute? This whole thing would be so much easier if he wasn't. I have to sit with this sexy beast every day, and it gets harder each day to hold myself back. Each day makes me like him a little bit more. Between French class and French homework, I think I'm becoming an expert at self restraint. Especially now, with him so close to me, while he concentrates and makes such a cute little face as he continues to translate. I hope he doesn't know that I'm staring. I look away, face burning with a blush. I hope he doesn't see that, either.

"Are you okay?" he asks, but I'm not facing him. I'm busying myself, facing the other way, with looking through the French textbook.

"Yeah, yeah I'm fine," I say, but I'm really not. I just really miss kissing him.

"Alright, cool," he says. "Oh! By the way, I bought you something." He takes the binder from on top of my desk, where it was by my computer, and digs through the front cover. Then he pulls out a movie ticket, handing it to me. I turn back to him to take it. "It's for that movie premiere on Thursday. I was hoping you'd go with me."

I frown. "Is Sora going?"

"Of course not," he laughs. "He's not into anything that doesn't involve drinking. It's just me and you, and then we'll meet Cloud and Zack there. Maybe Xion. Since you two are friends, I figured that you'd be fine." He pauses at the look I'm giving him and says, "Oh, but it's not a date or anything! I mean, you know, it's a movie with some friends. You'll have to sneak out with me and stuff. Do you want to go?"

"Yeah, sure," I say in the most nonchalant way that I can manage. I don't want to seem too desperate.

When Thursday comes around, after three long days of waiting, I'm more excited than I should be. The movie isn't until twelve tonight, and he didn't want to sit around the theatre and wait in line to get into the movie room, so he's having the group save two seats for us inside. It makes it a lot easier for us. I take a nap as soon as I get home so that I won't be tired, and come eleven I'm up and refreshed and ready to go. To sneak out, he pulls me out of the window of his bedroom. Then we get into the van, and get McDonalds. _Then _we go to the theatre, five till midnight, and stroll right in.

Cloud and Zack had four seats, plus their own, towards the top of the theatre. They're arguing when we come up, but stop immediately and greet us. Well, Zack greets me, but Cloud kind of gives me a disgusted look, like he'd been expecting someone else. The other two seats, I'm assuming, are for Kairi and Xion.

"Roxas! Long time no see," Zack stands to greet me, walking to me for a hug. He's so much taller than me, that he has to lean over. When he pulls away, he pats his hands on my shoulders and says, "You're so short! Wow, how cute~! I could just eat you up! If my boyfriend wasn't right here, of course. _Ouch!_"

Cloud puts the hand that he used to punch Zack into his front pocket, the other scratching his head. "Yeah, Xion and that girl are late. I think that they didn't want to sit through the previews."

So, it _is _Xion and Kairi who are coming. It must be a date for them, as well as Cloud and Zack. It's always uncomfortable to go out with a group of couples, when you aren't dating. Or, maybe this _is _a date for me, and Axel wanted me to come because of that? I doubt that, but it'd be nice.

Is this like a double date? I mean, we're going to a movie with two different couples. Does that make this a date?

The previews are long, for all these movies I know nothing about. I don't even know what movie we're watching, because I almost never watch actually cable TV, so I have never seen the commercial for it. It's the curse of having Netflix and UTorrent. I can't even remember the name of this movie. I just know that Axel wanted me to come, so I did. Xion and Kairi didn't come until the opening credits to the movie, and were really loud on their way up the steps to our seats. They sat on the other side of Zack and Cloud, while set next to Axel, and me next to him. There's a pack of strangers on my free side, so I lean in pretty close to Axel.

When the movie starts, he leans in to ask, "Are you comfortable?"

When I nod, his hand drops to my thigh with a warm, slow rub in an attempt to comfort me. I squirm a bit, readjusting how I'm sitting so that I'm no longer leaning on him. I don't want to seem desperate, or really even interested. That doesn't mean that I want him to stop touching me, so when he goes to take his hand back, I stop him by putting my hand over his, and holding it back down against my leg. I turn my face away, blushing and embarrassed, completely thankful that Xion and Kairi are sitting on the other side of Zack and not next to me. I'd never hear the end of this if Kairi saw.

Turning his hand underneath mine, he intertwines our fingers so that we're actually holding hands. I use my free hand to cradle part of my face, and mumble, "Oh, geeze…"

I need to get a grip. I need to decide my game plan- am I going to kiss him again, and be as cheap as I always am, or am I going to actually tell him how I feel? Probably neither, because I'm embarrassed and I'm terrible at making up my mind.

Axel leans over so that I can hear him over the action scene of the movie. "Are you sure you're okay?"

"Yeah," I nod, looking at him. "Yeah, I'm fine. I'm just… _tired_.

What an awful lie. He knows that I took a nine hour power nap before coming here. There's no way I'd still be tired. He shrugs it off with no suspicions and turns back to the movie. I, of course, have no interest in the movie and whatever is happening on the screen. So, instead I just stare at him. He doesn't notice; he never notices when I stare at him. Cloud does, however, and I know that he's giving me a dirty look before I even look at him. Hateful prick.

I don't know what his problem is with me. Right from the beginning, he's hated me. I know that it's because he's into Axel. That's barely even a secret anymore. I just don't see why he has to act like a six year old about it. Sometimes I feel like I'm in some bad MTV show, with those awful love triangles. Actually, it's more of a love square if I count Sora, and a love Pentagon if I consider Zack. That's where things get complicated, and it turns into a Spanish soap opera.

My whole life is turning into a soap opera.

Cloud whispers something to Zack, and then stands to leave the theater. While he's passing me, I just catch a chin jerk in the direction of the door, and the narrowing of eyes, demanding that I follow. While I watch him walk away, I debate whether or not I'll join him. I know it's a bad idea, but I guess I should.

"I'll be right back," I say to Axel, and follow Cloud out.

He's waiting for me in the boy's restroom, leaning up against the sink counter space. I walk in cautiously, unsure of his intentions. "You're not going to murder me, are you?"

He cracks a dry smile and says, "Of course not. I would get caught for sure." Clapping his hands together, he stands up straight. "On a more serious note, we need to talk, kid."

I narrow my eyes suspiciously. "About?"

"I'll be straight up. It's about your weird little love life, if you can call it that. You like Axel. And I'm sure that by now, you know that you're not the only one. Even you're not that stupid. You also have to see that you have quite a bit of competition. I mean, between me, Larxene, and that little shit Sora, you don't stand a chance. Besides, you're a little too late, anyway."

It's like he thinks that I don't already know all of that. Believe me, I know that I'm late, and I know that there's a _lot _of competition. If this is his attempt to scare me off, it's pathetic.

"I know what you're thinking," he goes on with a shrug. "I'm just trying to break you guys up, or whatever. Believe me, that's not it. Well, maybe that's _partly _true, but for the most part I'm doing this because I'm a smug dick, and I get a sort of sick satisfaction from it. I'm sure you know by now that I hate you."

I say, "Naturally. You don't exactly try to hide it."

"Of course not. I'm Cloud fucking Strife, spoiled rich brat and good looking whore. I can do or say whatever I want." He snorts. "Look at you. You're fucking pathetic, Roxas. It's almost cute, though. How you think that he still likes you. Actually, it's fucking _hilarious_. Don't think that because he held your hand during the movie, that he actually wants you. He's held my _dick_, and he's done much more with Larxene. And, of course, he's _dating _Sora. Axel's been around the block a few times. He's moved on. He doesn't like you. You really should accept that."

I sigh, crossing my arms. "Did you call me out here to tell me things that I already know?"

"Oh, I got something you don't know about," he smiles smugly, seemingly proud of himself. "He's fucking Larxene. It couldn't be more obvious."

**~o~**

"I don't understand why you're so mad. I mean, you came back to the theatre with Cloud for some reason, completely pissed off," Axel complains on the drive home. "Why were you with him, anyway? You two don't exactly like each other."

I snort. "Yeah. We're both well versed on that fact."

"What bit you in the ass? You were just fine earlier. Hell, you were actually _civil _for once. What's up with you?"

I can't sufficiently come up with an insult or a comeback. I could say something like "Why don't you go ask Larxene?", but that wouldn't really make sense in the situation, and it would just be a cheap shot. I could also go with my usual "Nothing," or "I'm fine." I'm just tired of lying, and that usually ends up in a fight. I'm too tired to argue right now, and I'm tired of always fighting with him. Everything is a fight with him. Instead of saying anything, I just shrug.

He sighs, eyes on the road. He's getting better at driving. "You know, you get these mood swings all the time that are legit the most annoying things anyone has to deal with."

"You're right," I say submissively.

"You don't have to be so-," he pauses. "Wait, what? I'm right? Okay, you're sick. We gotta get you to a hospital. How many fingers am I holding up?"

I push away the hand that he's holding in my face, which for the record is holding up two fingers. "Axel, please. I'm really upset."

"_About_?" he pushes. When I stay silent, he says, "Come on, you can tell big daddy. I'm a good listener."

I think back to what Cloud had told me. _He's moved on. He doesn't like you_. Of course he doesn't. I'm not stupid; I know how he feels about me now. He doesn't like me, or love me, or any of those feelings anymore. Not that I can blame him. With the way I've treated him this whole time, I shouldn't expect anything else. _You're fucking pathetic, Roxas._ I really am. I really, really am.

"Whoa, whoa, why are you crying?" Axel pulls over to the side of the road, pulling up into the dirt to park. Leaning over to me, he puts a hand on my shoulder, the other pulling away one of my hands from my face. My other hand drops into my lap. "What's wrong?"

He caresses my cheek, thumb wiping away some of my tears. I'm not crying hard, and I'm not sobbing, so this is at least going better than usual. Going back to habits, I say, "I'm fine. Don't touch me."

He lets go of my face, and I instantly regret what I said. "Okay. You're fine. You're a fucking liar."

"Please. I'm not the liar here," I grumble.

He turns on the overhead light so that we can see through the darkness, then turns back to me. "And by that, you mean?"

"Axel," I pause, thinking over what I could say. "I… I don't understand you. I really don't."

"What's not to understand? I'm pretty honest with you."

"You're sleeping with Larxene."

"Except with that," he says, and pauses. "Who told you that? It was Cloud, wasn't it? That's why you're all pissed off. Well, I mean, it's not like I _lied _to you. I just didn't really… tell the _truth_. It's not like I meant to not tell you, I'm just not gonna go up to you and say that I'm fucking her. But, I wouldn't _lie _about it."

"Well, you don't lie about that stuff, but I don't get why you even do it," I say. "Like, why her? All you two do is fight, and you act like you don't like her. I don't get it."

"I _don't_ like her. I hate her," he replies.

"Then why sleep with her?"

He winces and says, "Because it's easy. I mean, you don't really know the circumstances, like it's not like I searched her out to sleep with her or anything. It just kind of happened. And, it was only once. Okay, twice. Not counting our first time."

I'm not upset that he slept with Larxene. I'm really not. It's not like I expect him to keep it in his pants all the time. I'm just upset that he slept with her, when she sits right next to me in class. I'm just upset that he would do it, and not be open about it in the first place. And I'm really upset that he slept with her while I was working things out between us. Not that he knew about that last part, but it still makes me upset.

It's dark outside, and completely quiet. We're alone out here, to ourselves, and I guess this is a great time to get our relationship sorted out. I could just confess, it would be so easy out here while we're alone, opposed to when we're at home together, or at school. No cars are even passing, as it's past two in the morning and we're on a back road parked next to one of the desert lots, yucca trees sprouting up from the ground as far as the eyes can see. The only houses are blocks away, separated by the short patches of desert, leaving where we're parked completely isolated. I look back for a moment at the back of the van. The backseat is up, but there's still that patch in the back, which could be made into a makeshift bed, with all the blankets he has back there. Probably for Larxene.

"Where did you sleep with her?" I ask, turning back to him.

He pulled up the side of his mouth, making a face, and then jerks his chin to the back. "Back there. Both times." He pauses. "Well, like, the first time was when I was driving her home from a party because she was pretty fucked up, but she kind of threw herself on me. The second was when we were on our way _to _a party. That time was weird."

"Yeah, I bet," I agree.

"Are you mad?" he asks cautiously, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly.

I look down to my hands, which are sitting in my lap. "Why would I be?"

"Well, because we're…" he stops for a moment. "I mean, we…"

I reach over and put a hand on his knee, leaning over the console to kiss him. He in turn puts a hand over my hand, the other coming up to the side of my face, pushing our lips together harder as he opens his mouth around mine. His tongue slides on my lower lip, making them wet and warm. When he bites my lip, sharply but softly, I take a sharp intake of breath, pushing both my hands against his chest to push him away. He looks confused for a second, and I hang my head and say, "I want you to touch me."

He blinks down at me. "Are you sure?"

"If I wasn't sure, I wouldn't say it."

I end up in his lap seconds later, and the kissing continues. It's sloppier this time, and he reaches blindly for the button to turn off the lights. When it's off, he starts to kiss at my neck, biting and sucking at the skin there, and I'm sure I'm going to have a nice sized hickey there in the morning. His tongue licks up against the forming mark, and I can't hold in a light moan as the spot heats up underneath his breath. I feel his hands trail up my thighs, warm and needy as they make their way up higher. I put my hands on his shoulders for a sort of leverage, while I feel his slip up my shirt, rubbing against my skin. They leave a trail of fire and my stomach twists in lust as he bucks his hips up enough for his dick to rub against mine through our pants. His hands are warm and soft, the palms rubbing against my nipples. When he kisses me again, I moan against his mouth, tongue rubbing against his.

"Fuck, Roxas," he says into my mouth. "You're such a great fucking kisser."

I nod, our mouths still connected while my breathing is getting heavier. He builds up a soft, slow friction between us, getting me so hard that it's becoming painful against my jeans. I feel his erection against mine, underneath the thick material, and unbutton the pants for him, only having issue because he starts to kiss my neck again, lips trailing down to kiss at my collarbone through my shirt. When he's free from the jean prison, the only thing covering his bottom is his boxer-briefs, the dark blue material outlining his dick.

I bite my lip, looking up at him for guidance. I don't know what I'm supposed to do now. I never took a Sex Ed class, I've never gotten 'the talk,' and I don't watch porn, so I'm completely lost at this point. He can see my confusion and lack of movement, and smiles. "You don't know what to do, do you?"

"Shut up," I mutter, face burning with a blush. I have half a mind to hop down right now, for his rude comment. Of course, I'm just as hard as him, so that wouldn't really be smart.

He brings his hands to the hem of my shirt, pulling it up for me. I move my arms so that it comes off easily, and he holds it balled up in his fist, taking a moment to stare at me. I become self conscious after a few seconds, and my face heats up even more. Why is he staring? Do I look weird or something? He doesn't say anything, but drops my shirt to the floor next to his feet, and reaches his hands out to my sides. Lingering at my hips, his fingers slide up my sides, leaving a hot trail on my skin in their wake. Then they're on my chest, thumbs rubbing against my nipples in a circular motion. I whimper slightly, placing my hands over his so that they're pressed completely against my chest.

"God, you're so fucking hot," he breathes out. He leans foreword to kiss my chest, and up to my collarbone, definitely leaving another hickey there.

Rolling my hips, I let his hands go only so that he can unbutton my pants as well, while his mouth is still working on my chest area. When they're unbuttoned, that's when he finally touches me down below, taking hold of my erection in his hand. The other goes to my butt, pushing me a bit closer, just enough so that our below areas are pressed up together.

His mouth comes back to mine, and I put my hands to use in a mimic of his motions. His dick is hot in my hand, pressing against my palm as I begin to move my hand in a fast, jerking motion. It's kind of like jerking off, only with someone else's penis instead of your own. He curses, and I know that I must be doing _something _right. His hand starts to pump me, only I'm sure that he's doing much better than I am, as he has more experience with this kind of thing. I _know _that he's doing well when my back goes into a sort of spasm, and arches out of pleasure.

I lean foreword, breathing hard, forehead on his shoulder. Moaning out, I feel his hand squeeze towards the head. Then I whimper, making a noise that I'm unfamiliar with, my stomach swirling in a sort of pleasure that I never experienced. His free hand digs into my backside, nails biting into the skin where my underwear had ridden down. In turn, my nails cut into his back, making him hiss out into my ear, turning his head so that he's kissing my neck again. He bucks his hips up, and our dicks press together. Holding them so that they're rubbing up against each other, he uses a hand to thrust up and down in a pumping motion. This feels even better than before, feeling his erection press up against mine. There's precum foaming at the tip, and I can feel it leak over, giving us lubrication to slide over.

"Oh, god," I say. I curl my toes, feeling another wave of bliss go through my body, knowing that I probably won't last much longer. I bite my lip, fingers twisting into the fabric of his shirt, letting him have control of the situation. He squeezes our dicks together, and I twitch, crying out, seeing an odd white underneath my eyelids when I closed my eyes. This must be an orgasm, and I know it is because a few seconds later, I cum in streaks in between us. There's a certain kind of satisfaction you get when you see your own cum on someone's chest, especially the person you may or may not be in love with. Even though it's only on his shirt.

He's not done, having a higher threshold than me. He only has a few more strokes, though, before he also cums, but his falls between both of us and covers us pretty equally, because we're pressed up against each other, kissing in a heated passion of aftermath. He wipes the mess off of his hands on his pants so that he can cradle my face with both when he kisses me one last time. Then we sit there for a few minutes together, cuddling in the seat. I nuzzle my face into the crook of his neck and he rubs circles on my back with a hand.

But this doesn't last long before I realize what we had actually done.

And I'm embarrassed.

This isn't good.

**~o~**

**A/N**

**I hope this chapter was worth the wait!**

**So I'm back! I meant to put up this chapter earlier, but I had Warped Tour for two days, and then some family occasions to go to so I was never able to finish it.**

**I also broke my laptop, so that's why it's so late. I hadn't gotten a computer until recently. My bad!**

**I'm not sure when I'll be able to update, because I'm doing a big move soon to Washington State, but I'll try to do it as soon as possible. **

**See you guys soon!**

**Review~!**


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